


Bruisebound

by SalineCoelacanth



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Bruiseshipping, M/M, Ninjago AU, ninjago skybound
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 18:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17771798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalineCoelacanth/pseuds/SalineCoelacanth
Summary: An alternate universe of Skybound where instead of Jay and Nya ending up together, Jay and Cole end up together.To preface this, I mean NO HATE to Jay x Nya. It's a perfectly fine ship and you're allowed to ship whatever you want. I just had this idea while rewatching Skybound and got a lot of support to write this.I have never really written a fic like this before. It's basically retelling Skybound but with new scenes, extended scenes, and some minor scenes that I just didn't want to write.





	1. (Ep. 1 Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter ended up being longer than I initially planned. I wanted to make episode 1 all one chapter, but it was getting too long so I decided to split it into parts. (Kinda makes me wonder how long this fic will actually be) Also there is a lot of dialogue in this chapter, simply because there isn't much action in this first part. There will probably be more action in later chapters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of the first episode of the Skybound season

“Cut!” Dareth called. The ninja jumped down from the set while the other actors removed their skulkin costumes. “That was amazing you guys!” Dareth complimented

“Cut? I just got here!” Nya called as she walked onto the set. “You guys did the commercial without me?”

“Sorry sis,” Kai responded, “It was Dareth’s idea.”

“Oh, Nya!” Dareth said, “Just in time! We were about ready to start the makeup commercial.”

“Makeup!?” Nya asked, fury in her voice. “You're gonna need makeup in a little bit!” She walked towards Dareth, clearly ready to beat him up.

“Woah, calm down, Nya,” Jay stepped it, putting his arm in front of her to prevent her from attacking.

“Listen, Nya,” Dareth explained, “The ninja are REALLY big right now! We have to make sure to keep their reputation.”

“But, I AM a ninja!” Nya argued.

“Yeah, but you’re the GIRL ninja,” Dareth replied.

“Hey, we’re all a team,” Lloyd stepped in, “We’re equals. Nya is part of the team now.”

“Yeah, and besides, Nya is the water ninja, not the girl ninja,” Jay added.

“Thanks Jay, but I can stand up for myself,” Nya replied a slight edge in her voice.

“Ok guys, let’s just calm down,” Cole said, putting his arms around Jay and Nya. “We’re a ninja team first, celebrities second.”

“But you guys are the hottest thing in Ninjago!” Dareth pointed out, pulling out a magazine. Lloyd grabbed it and stared at the cover. “Sensei Lloyd?” he questioned, “I’m only a sensei in training. And why is there a section about hot pictures of me?”

Cole grabbed the magazine from Lloyd. “And what’s the deal with this?” he pointed at the bottom of the cover. “‘Who will Nya choose? Jay Vs Cole’” he read, “Jay and I stopped fighting over a year ago! Why are people still talking about that?”

“It doesn’t matter if any of it is true,” Dareth explained, “The point is that people eat this stuff up.”

“You guys may not like the fame, but I for one appreciate my fans,” Kai turned back to a crowd of girls standing in the doorway. He winked at them causing them to scream for him.

“Cut it out, Kai,” Lloyd said. “Now, c’mon guys, we have to get back to the bounty.”

The ninja exitted the movie set, many security guards walked through the halls making sure the fan girls didn’t get too close. They left the building and looked around the corner, seeing if the coast was clear. They waited for all the fans to leave before they made a run for it. They eventually made it to the edge of the city where the bounty was waiting. They all got on board and the Destiny’s Bounty flew off.

“Master Wu?” Cole entered Wu’s chamber as his Master sat in the middle, meditating. Wu looked up from his meditation.

“I see you have returned,” he stated, “but you seem troubled. Is something wrong?”

Cole closed the door and stepped forwards towards his Master. “I’m just a little upset,” he explained, “Everyone still thinks Jay and I are fighting over Nya. They keep wondering who she’s going to choose.”

“Love is always complicated,” Wu said, “Sometimes you can lose people you care about because of love. But in the end, it is a powerful feeling,”

“But, I don’t love Nya,” Cole said, “maybe I had a crush on her but, that was it. I don't think I ever really loved her. Not like Jay.”

“Then if you have moved on from Nya, why are you so troubled over this?” Wu asked. Cole looked awkwardly at the ground. “Sit, my student.” Cole obeyed, sitting on the floor across from Wu.

“I, I don’t love Nya,” Cole stated, “and I know that she doesn’t want a relationship. But what if she gets back with Jay?”

“I am, confused,” Wu replied, “If you no longer wish to be with Nya, why are you scared of her and Jay being together?”

“Because…” Cole paused, and looked at Wu, then to the ground, and at Wu again. “I- I think I like Jay.”

Wu nodded in understanding, “That would indeed be a problem,”

“I know I shouldn’t worry. Nya doesn’t want anything to do with Jay, and Jay said he moved on from her, but I’m worried anyway. What if he doesn’t even like me that way? What if our friendship is ruined again?”

“As I said before, love is complicated. It can be hard to tell how someone feels,” Wu said.

“I know I’m Jay’s best friend,” Cole continued, “He at least cares about me in that way. But would he be able to love me? I’m a ghost for crying out loud!”

“Why would it matter that you’re a ghost?” Wu questioned.

“I’m not normal,” Cole responded, “I’m different. How could I be there for him if I can’t even touch things without concentrating,”

“I know it has been hard for you to adapt, Cole. Being a ghost means you may feel distant from everyone sometimes, and you may feel as if you are not as useful as you could be. But if you really felt that the others believed you were less than before, don’t you think they wouldn’t want you on the team?” Wu asked.

“I guess that makes sense,” Cole answered, looking down at his hands.

“Meditate with me, Cole,” Wu directed, “It will help to clear your mind of these negative thoughts.” Cole obeyed, crossing his legs and taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes and rested his arms on his legs. “Clear your mind. Focus on nothing but emptying your thoughts,” Wu instructed. Cole continued taking deep breaths, clearing his mind. He felt himself float off the ground. He opened his eyes and saw that he had disappeared.

“Woah!” Cole appeared again and fell back onto the floor. “D-did you see that? No, did you NOT see that? I disappeared!” Cole started rambling excitedly.

Wu nodded. “As a ghost, you still have many abilities you can unlock,” he explained.

“What else can I do?” Cole asked. Before Wu could respond, there was a large crash coming from the deck. “What’s going on out there?”

“Perhaps you should go check,” Wu suggested.

Cole nodded and stood up, heading through the door. Nya stood in the middle of the training robots, one of them completely destroyed and dripping with water. “Nya, you good?” Cole asked.

“Yes, I’m fine!” Nya replied angrily.

Cole just shrugged and walked away. He noticed Jay and Zane over at a table playing chess. He walked over excited to show them his new ability.

“I believe that is checkmate,” Zane said, knocking over Jay’s chess piece with his own. Jay gave an annoyed groan.

“Woah, looks like Zane beat you again,” Cole teased.

“What’s got you so happy?” Jay asked.

“Oh, nothing, just that I can DISAPPEAR!” Cole demonstrated, vanishing in front of the two.

“Cool. Maybe you could disappear and leave us alone,” Jay retorted, “I’ve gotten this close to beating Zane.”

“Touchy,” Cole commented, “Fine, I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Set the board again,” Jay told Zane while Cole walked off.

Zane watched Cole walk away, waiting for him to leave. “You still haven’t told him, have you?” he asked Jay.

“Told him what? About the reflection?” Jay questioned, “There is a very good reason I haven’t told him.” He turned back, looking at Nya as she fought the training robots.

“I fail to see the reason,” Zane said, placing his pieces on his side.

“Do you know how he’d react?” Jay asked, turning back to Zane, “If he knew I say myself with Nya, he’d get upset. I just don’t want to ruin our friendship again.”

“And I assume you haven’t told Nya either?”

“Of course not!” Jay replied, “She hates my guts. No need to give her another reason to hate me.” He turned back to Nya again.

Nya caught is eye. “What are you looking at?” She yelled.

“See?” Jay turned back to Zane. He sighed. “I was fine before. It hurt when she first broke up with me, but after seeing that vision, I just can’t stop thinking about her!” The two began playing again. “She clearly wants nothing to do with me,”

“Then, why would you try to get back with Nya?” Zane continued to question.

“Zane, everyone knows you can’t change destiny,” Jay responded, moving one of his pieces.

“But, destiny HAS been changed before,” Zane argued, “Remember when we went to Cloud Kingdom?”

Jay nodded. “Yeah, what about it?”

“They stated that multiple things happened that they didn't plan. Remember when they said Cole was not destined to be a ghost?”

“Yeah,”  
“Well, Cole IS a ghost. That has to count a sufficient evidence.”

“That’s just one instance,” Jay countered, “and that’s different anyway. This was a vision of the future, not something written down on a magic paper or whatever.”

“I still fail to see your reasoning,” Zane replied, moving his piece, “Checkmate.”

“Ugh, I’m taking a break!” Jay yelled, standing up.

“Perhaps that is a good idea,” Zane stood up as well, “You seem stressed and should rest.”

“Well, maybe I WILL rest,” Jay tried to argue. He walked off towards the cabins, leaving Zane at the table.

“Psst,” Zane heard a whisper. He looked around to see who it was, but couldn’t see anyone. “PSST! Zane!” he heard again. He looked again and noticed Cole hiding behind a corner.

“Cole?” Zane asked. Cole gestured for him to come here, so Zane walked over to him. “Is there something you need?”

“Can I talk to you about something?” Cole asked.

“Of course,” Zane replied, “What seems to be troubling you?”

“Not here,” Cole said, “Let’s go somewhere else.” The two walked off to a separate room away from everyone else.

“So, what did you want to tell me?” Zane asked again.

Cole sighed. “You have to promise not to tell ANYONE about this.” Zane nodded. “I was talking to Master Wu about it, but I just kinda wanted another opinion. I-I kinda have a crush…”

“A crush?” Zane questioned. “On Nya?”

“No, not on Nya,” Cole objected, “I have a crush… on Jay…” he admitted.

Zane blinked in surprise. “Jay? I never would have guessed. Well, actually, looking back, it seems quite obvious now.”

“What!?” Cole yelled, embarrassed, “Do you think Jay knows?”

“What? No, of course Jay wouldn’t know,” Zane reassured. “But, if Jay were to know about this… I have to go tell him,”  
“Zane! You promised not to tell him!” Cole reminded.

“But, this would make things much more simple if he knew,” Zane attempted to explain.

“No it wouldn’t! If Jay knew, he’d think I was weird. Jay is my best friend, and I don’t want to mess up our friendship again.”

Zane tried to process the information. _If Jay knew, then he wouldn’t have to worry about Nya,_ he thought, _They could talk it out, and everything would be fixed. But I promised not to say anything…_ After thinking for a bit, Zane looked at Cole. “You need to tell Jay.”

“Uhh, Zane? Weren’t you paying attention? I literally just explained why I CAN’T do that!”

“Yes, but-” Zane was attempting to process the stories of both his friends. _Why is being a good friend so difficult?_ He thought.

“Zane, please,” Cole pleaded, “I still don’t really know what to do about all this,”

“I know what to do,” Zane replied, “Tell Jay.”

“You are not being helpful,”

“On the contrary, YOU are the one being unhelpful.”

There was a knock on the door. “Cole? Zane? You guys in there?” it was Lloyd.

Cole grabbed Zane’s arm. “Please,” he whispered.

Zane sighed. “I won’t tell,” he agreed.

“Thanks Zane!” Cole responded happily, “You’re the best!”

Zane opened the door. “Hello, Lloyd, do you need something?”

“Master Wu needs to meet with all of us,” Lloyd explained, “He said we have a mission,”

Cole and Zane followed Lloyd to the control room where Wu, Kai, Nya, Jay, and Misako were waiting. “Glad you could join us,” Wu said as the three ninja arrived. “It seems that when you destroyed the Cursed Realm, one ghost managed to escape,” he explained. The ninja looked at the screen showing video footage of Clouse at the train station.

“Clouse?” Lloyd questioned, “What is he up to?”

“We don’t know,” Wu answered, “But we do know that he got a ticket for Stiix and will be arriving there in about an hour. I need you all to go there and figure out what he’s planning.”

“But, Master Wu, Dareth wanted us to do that Make-a-Wish thing at the hospital,” Kai objected.

“Dareth isn’t our master, Kai,” Lloyd interjected, “Lil’ Nelson will have to wait.”

Kai sighed, “Alright.”

The ninja ran off to get ready for their mission, Kai following close behind. They jumped off the side of the bounty, summoning their dragons and flying away. They arrived at Ninjago City and flew overhead, their fans screaming from below. “You know, we aren’t too far away from the hospital,” Kai pointed out, “We can stop there real quick,”

“We won’t have enough time,” Lloyd argued, “We need to get to Stiix as soon as possible,”

“Actually, according to my calculations, we should be able to stop by the hospital and make it to Stiix on time,” Zane commented, “As long as we don’t run into any problems.”

“Ok, ok, but no distractions,” Lloyd replied. The ninja changed their path and headed towards the hospital. They visited the room where Lil’ Nelson was staying along with some other kids with injuries. They signed his cast and dubbed him an honorary ninja for the day.

“Thank you guys,” Lil’ Nelson said, “Would you be able to sign everyone else’s casts?”  
“Sorry little guy, but we need to get going,” Lloyd explained, “Everyone ready to go?”

“Uhh, we might have a slight problem,” Cole suggested, looking out the window. A giant crowd of people were swarmed near the bottom on the hospital. Helicopters also littered the sky.

“How did they find us so quickly?” Jay asked.

“Update: At the hospital, my hair still looks amazing,” Kai said, typing on his phone.

“Are you serious?” Nya asked, “You’re doing that now?”

“Hey, I have to keep my followers updated!” Kai defended.

“Remember how I said we would get to Stiix on time if we had no problems?” Zane reminded, “This is definitely a problem.”

“We won’t be able to use our dragons,” Cole said, “There’s helicopters everywhere!”

“Cole’s right,” Lloyd agreed, “We’re gonna have to find another way out without being seen.”

“I can help,” Lil’ Nelson said, “I’m a ninja for a day, so, call me the Purple Ninja!” He put on a custom made purple hood and quickly ran his wheelchair into the door smacking it open. The ninja, initially shocked, rushed out the door, following Lil’ Nelson down the hall. They continued down the hall but were cut off when the fans reached them and blocked the exit. “Don’t worry ninja,” Lil’ Nelson assured, “You can take these stairs to the roof.” He slammed his wheelchair into another door, opening it and revealing a set of stairs leading to the roof. He closed the door and blocked it. “I can’t go any farther,” he explained.

“Thanks for the help, Purple Ninja,” Lloyd thanked.

“No, thank you Lloyd,” Lil’ Nelson replied, “thanks to you, I finally got to be a ninja.”

The ninja waved goodbye and ran up the stairs. Reaching the top the opened the door and onto the rooftop. “We won’t be able to jump to the next rooftop from here,” Cole pointed out.

“Well, we can’t use our dragons, but we can use airjitzu,” Kai suggested.

“Wait, airjitzu?” Nya stopped, “I just learned to summon my dragon, I haven’t learned airjitzu yet!”

“But we have to leave now or we won’t make it to Stiix on time,” Zane reminded.

“Don’t worry Nya, I know you’ll be able to do it,” Jay assured, “We’re a team and we stick together,”

“Yeah, I don’t need to to stand up for me, Jay,” Nya responded.

“He was just trying to be nice,” Cole defended Jay.

“It’s fine, we’re just having our first fight,” Jay said, not thinking about his words.

“We?” Nya asked, “What do you mean by we?”

“Uhh… I,” Jay couldn’t think of a response. The helicopters were closing near, and the ninja had to hide fast. They all used airjitzu to hide behind a billboard. Nya stayed back as she didn’t know airjitzu yet. “Nya, c’mon,” Jay gestured, “Take my hand and hide,”

“No,” Nya objected, “What did you mean by ‘we’? I’m a ninja now and I’m nobody’s girl.”

“C’on Nya, just take his hand,” Cole stepped in, “I’m sure he didn't mean anything by it. If you get spotted, we’ll get caught!”

A helicopter flew over the building. “Too late,” Kai sighed, “Guess we won’t catch Clouse.”

The helicopter door opened to reveal Dareth. “What are you guys doing up here?” he asked, “the fans are down there!”

“Dareth!” Lloyd called, “We need to get to Stiix! Can you take us there?”

“This could be a good scoop,” Dareth whispered to himself, “Alright, get in!”

The ninja all jumped into the helicopter as it flew to Stiix. Cole looked over at Jay. _What exactly did he mean by ‘we’?_ He asked himself. _I thought that Jay was over Nya…_ Cole shook his head. _You’re just thinking too much into it, Cole. You need to stop thinking about Jay, and start thinking about the mission._ Cole tried to clear his mind, but all he could think about was Jay. Was Jay really falling for Nya again?


	2. (Ep. 1 Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second part of the first episode that I couldn't add to Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too many changes with this one. I skipped the scenes with Nadakhan because they're exactly the same, and this story isn't about Nadakhan. It's shorter than Chapter 1, but I still feel it was long enough to be it's own chapter.

 

The ninja arrived in Stiix and swiftly changed into more casual outfits in order to not stand out. Zane attempted to use his scanners to pick up any readings of Clouse, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“I haven’t picked up any traces of Clouse,” he reported.

“Guys! Guess what I found!” Kai interrupted.

“Did you find Clouse?” Zane asked.

“Nope. I found this,” Kai pulled out an action figure of himself. “Someone must have lost it. No way someone would give up something this valuable.”

“Now’s not the time for this, Kai,” Lloyd scolded. He activated a communication device on his wrist. “No signs of Clouse.”

“You’d better keep looking,” Misako’s voice spoke from the device. “Wu is at the library trying to see if he can find out what Clouse was looking for. I’ll make sure to contact you if he finds any information.”

Lloyd nodded and turned off the device. He turned back to the ninja. “Ok guys, keep your eyes peeled. Clouse may still be here.”

“Guys, look,” Jay interjected, “More Kai dolls!” He pointed to a pile of them stacked near other piles of scrap.

“It seems the Kai dolls are not as valuable as you thought, Kai,” Zane teased.

“Psh… They probably just made too many,” Kai tried defending himself.

The ninja continued searching through the town trying to find any trace of Clouse. They decided to split up for a bit to cover more ground. Jay was looking through a pile of broken wood and various other pieces of scrap. He came across a large log and attempted to lift it, but was unable to.

“Need some help?” Jay looked behind him and saw Cole.

“This log isn’t that heavy,” Jay insisted. He tried to lift it again but failed. “Ok, yeah, I need some help.”

Cole chuckled and put his hands under the big log. He concentrated and being able to touch it and lifted it up. “See anything?” he asked, still holding the log.

Jay looked at the area left behind and shook his head. “Nope, nothing.” Cole put the log back down, making a _thud_ noise as it landed. “What are the chances Clouse is still here?” Jay asked, “We’ve been here for such a long time, I’d doubt he’s still be here.”

“Unless he’s still looking for whatever he came here for,” Cole suggested, “Besides, he’s a ghost. Maybe he’s just invisible.”

“Well, I’m taking a break,” Jay decided, “We’ve been looking all day and I’m getting tired.”

“I’ll join you,” Cole followed.

The two sat at a table, sitting opposite of each other. Jay sat with his arms on the table and his head resting on his hand.

“You ok?” Cole asked, noticing Jay’s posture.

“I’m fine,” Jay insisted, “I’m just tired of searching for someone who probably isn’t even here.” Jay hoped Cole wouldn’t press further. It was true that he was exhausted, but he was still hurt over Nya’s remarks earlier that day. But he couldn’t tell Cole that, cause then he’d get suspicious.

“Have you two discovered any clues?” Cole and Jay looked up at Zane who walked over to the table.

“Oh, hey Zane,” Cole greeted, “No, we didn't find anything.”

“I’m telling you, he’s not here anymore,” Jay said.

“Are you two discussing anything? Talking about any issues you need to work out?” Zane questioned, clearly trying to hint at something.

“Nope!” Cole responded nervously.

“What would we need to discuss?” Jay asked back, trying not to sound worried.

Zane just sighed and took a seat next to Cole. “I haven’t heard any info from the others,” Zane said, “Perhaps Jay is right and Clouse is no longer here.”

“There you guys are,” Lloyd spoke. He walked up to the table with Kai and Nya following. Lloyd sat on the other side of Cole and Kai sat across from Lloyd.

“Hey, Nya,” Jay greeted, “You, uh, can sit next to me,”

Nya rolled her eyes and took the seat between Jay and Kai. “So, I’m guessing no one found anything?” Nya said.

“No,” everyone said at the same time. They then noticed a small T.V. displayed showing the news.

“Hey, can you turn that up?” Lloyd asked.

“Pfft. No one here cares about those fruit colored ninja,” one guy responded.

“Hey, what kind of fruit is black?” Cole asked, sounding offended.

“Uhh, blackberries are,” Jay commented.

“Shut it, Jay,” Cole retorted.

“Guys, listen to this,” Nya interrupted. They all turned their attention back to the T.V.

“The famous Green Ninja, Lloyd Garmadon, was caught stealing bags of money from the bank,” the news reported stated.

“Wait a minute,” Lloyd commented, “That looks like me!” The footage showed Lloyd walking out of the bank with bags of money while laughing. “I never did that!”

“That’s not all,” the reporter continued, “Down at Mega Monster Amusement Park, Zane was seen causing much mayhem and causing destruction on multiple rides.”

“Wait, my memory does not recall doing any of that,” Zane said.

The T.V. continued showing scenes of each ninja causing various different crimes throughout Ninjago.

“Someone is pretending to be us!” Jay pointed out.

“But why?” Nya asked.

“And how?” Cole added.

The T.V. cut to an interview with Jay’s parents. “Do you have anything to say about your son’s actions?” a reporter asked.

“Jay would never do this,” Ed defended, “And if he did, he had a good reason to. At least I hope.”

“You hope!?” Jay yelled, “That wasn’t me dad! It was an imposter!”

“Shh!” Cole reminded, “Keep your voice down!”

“Can you believe this?” one of the citizens asked, “They go around, destroying our town, acting like heroes, and then do stuff like this.”

“Yeah,” Kai pretended, “I hate those ninja.” He paused for a second and then leaned over to Nya. “We might want to leave now,” he whispered.

“The ninja are dangerous enemies,” the sheriff spoke on the T.V. “If you see them, do not approach. Contact your local law enforcement if you know of their whereabouts.”

Zane pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Hello? Police?” he asked.

“Zane! What are you doing?” Lloyd questioned.

“I am programmed to follow the law,” Zane explained, “Not telling the police of our whereabouts would be a direct violation.”

Lloyd reached over and smacked Zane’s phone out of his hand. “Sorry,” he said after a short pause.

“Hold on,” the citizen said, “Aren’t you-”

“No!” Jay cut him off, “We’re not the ninja, we’re just that other color coded group with a nindroid, a ghost, and a girl.”

“Get them!” another citizen yelled.

“Ok guys, we gotta get out of here!” Kai stated.

The six ninja began running away from the angry citizens of Stiix. They attempted to turn the corner, but spotted a group of police and stopped. They climbed onto the roof of a nearby house and ran across the rooftops. They came across a gap and used airjitzu to cross, but Jay stopped and waited for Nya. He held out his hand for her. Nya hesitated, but realizing the danger, begrudgingly took Jay’s hand and the two flew to the next rooftop with the others.

“Thanks for the help,” Nya thanked.

_Wow, she actually thanked me!_ Jay thought, _Maybe this all will work out after all._ The police spotted the ninja on the roof and started to climb ladders after them. “C’mon guys, we have to hurry!” Jay urged.

The ninja continued their escape, but eventually ended up back on the main dock, cornered against a pile of rubble.

“There’s nowhere else to go!” Cole pointed out, slight panic in his voice.

“Don’t worry guys, I have a plan,” Kai reassured, “Ninja-go!” He used his spinjitzu to burn a hole in the wood and fell down to the safety beams below. The others jumped after him. They jumped through the beams while the people above attempted to find them below the floorboards.

“Mom, we’re in a little trouble,” Lloyd called Misako on his communication device.

“I saw the news and I’m on my way,” Misako assured, “It’s clear you guys have been framed.”

“We need to get out of here and find out who did this!” Lloyd replied.

“I think I hear them over here!” One of the citizens called from above.

“Get the cranes!” another called back.

A big crane crashed through the floorboards right next to the ninja, but still avoiding them. More cranes began crashing through the deck as the ninja hurried to escape. One final crane smashed through. The ninja jumped on it as it raised back up.

“Did we get them?” someone asked.

“I don’t see them,” an officer replied.

“Guys, look!” Cole pointed out. The Destiny’s Bounty had arrived at Stiix to rescue the ninja. But a squad of police cars followed close behind it. They shot hooks at the bounty and began pulling it down out of the sky.

“Oh no!” Lloyd yelled. Suddenly, the ninja felt the crane move. It began lowering down towards the people below. “We need to split up,” Lloyd ordered.

“Split up!?” Cole questioned, “But we’re a team!”

“We can’t get caught and we’re more likely to escape if we divide and move separately,” Lloyd explained.

“But bad things happen when we split up,” Jay argued, “Chen’s island, Yang’s temple, Morro’s possession!” he listed.

“We have no other choice! If we don’t go, we’ll be caught!” Lloyd demanded.

“Lloyd’s right,” Zane agreed, “We cannot risk getting caught when there is some unknown evil out there.”

“We’ll meet back up later,” Kai said.

The ninja all nodded and jumped off in different directions. The crane dropped to the ground and the ninja managed to escape.


	3. (Ep. 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Episode 2 of Skybound, but only focussed on parts with Jay and Cole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad I managed to fit all of episode 2 into one chapter. It was easier considering there were multiple scenes I could skip because Jay and Cole weren't in it. I also added the scene at the art gallery cause they said they were going to the crime scenes (plural) and they didn't arrive at the amusement park until night, so I thought it would make sense for them to go somewhere else before.

The ninja were still split up as they never came up with a meeting place. Jay was wandering around the streets by himself as he came across a wanted poster with pictures of each of the ninja. He ignored it and entered a pub. He was very hungry as he hadn’t eaten all day. Inside the pub, there was only one guy watching the T.V. He turned to Jay.

“We’re closed,” he said. He turned his attention back to the T.V.

“C’mon, I’m starving! Do you have anything?” Jay insisted.

“Anything?” the guy asked. He gestured his hand towards a vending machine near the back.

Jay walked over to the vending machine and examined the snacks. His eyes fell upon a bag of Ninja Chips. “Ninja Chips!” he gasped quietly, “Oh, I LOVE Ninja Chips!” He felt his pockets but there was no money. He looked over at the T.V. where the sheriff was being interviewed about the ninja.

“The ninja have not been caught yet,” the sheriff stated, “But rest assured, we WILL find them and capture them.”

Jay turned back to the vending machine and put his hand near it and began using his lightning powers of it. Using as little of his power as he could, he moved the spring in the vending machine to release the chip bag. “Gentle,” he whispered to himself, looking over to make sure he wasn’t being watched. The spring finished moving, but the bag got stuck. “Oh c’mon!” Jay complained. He accidentally shot out some extra electricity, causing the vending machine’s light to burst. Panicked, Jay looked back at the other guy. Luckily, he was too focussed on the T.V. to notice Jay. Jay quietly snuck out of the pub before he would get caught. “So much for a snack,” Jay said to himself as he walked off. “I wonder where everyone else is?”

Jay figured the other ninja would contact him, so until then he just continued to wander around. He was careful to stay away from the city because that’s where he’d be recognized most easily.   _ The sheriff said the other ninja weren’t caught yet, _ Jay remembered,  _ so their probably still ok. _ He looked up at the sky. It was starting to get brighter as the sun started to rise. Jay yawned.  _ Who knew running from the police could be so exhausting.  _ Tired, Jay walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. He yawned and lay down on the bench, planning on taking a nap, but he heard his phone buzz. He pulled out his phone and saw Kai posted a status update. “Really Kai? At a time like this?” Jay asked, annoyed. He looked at the message and read it. “A place of peace, a place to fight, a brotherhood born on one fateful night,” Jay stared at it, puzzled. “What?” he asked himself as he sat back up, “Kai never posts stuff like this. It’s always dumb stuff like ‘Look at this awesome burger, it’s almost as hot as me,’” he said, mimicking Kai’s voice. “Unless, this is a riddle!” Jay studied the message again.  _ A place of peace, a place to fight…  _ he thought,  _ We fight on the bounty a lot, no wait, that got taken by the police…  _ Jay continued thinking about the puzzle. It doesn't help that he was tired and hungry and couldn’t think straight.  _ What does this brotherhood thing mean? _ he asked himself. Jay started thinking of multiple locations the ninja have visited. “Wait a minute!” he yelled, “The monastery! Of course! Everyone else must be meeting there!” He got up and concentrated his power to summon his elemental dragon. He flew off into the direction the ninja’s old home.

After he arrived at the monastery, Jay noticed everyone else was already there. “Seriously? I was the LAST one to figure out it was the old monastery?” Jay complained, jumping off his dragon, “And Lloyd never even trained here.”

“Alright guys,” Lloyd said, interrupting Jay, “It won’t be too long until they find us here so we have to plan fast,” he turned to Zane. “Tell them what you found.”

Zane nodded. “I came across security footage from the library of Master Wu. And he was not alone.” Zane projected the footage of the security camera onto a nearby wall. The other ninja walked over to view it. Master Wu was sitting at a table, reading a book. There was a mysterious smoke that appeared and Wu started looking around, panicked.

“Who was that?” Cole asked.

“No one knows,” Zane answered, “But we do know that Master Wu checked out a book about the Teapot of Tyrahn. We initially thought we needed to be worried about Clouse, but if this is what I think it is, we could be dealing with something far worse. We may have a djinn on our hands.”

“A djinn?” Jay asked.

“It’s like a genie,” Nya explained, “Except when you make a wish with a djinn, you’ll wish you never met them.”

“What else do we know about the djinn?” Lloyd asked.

“Not much,” Kai answered, “Just that they’re very sneaky and have great power.”

Jay started to smile, much to Zane’s confusion. “I believe smiling is not the proper reaction to hearing about a djinn,” Zane whispered, “What are you planning?”

“If djinn’s really do grant wishes, then maybe that’s how I can get Nya back!” Jay explained.

“I- what?” Zane asked, confused.

“I know for a fact that Nya and I end up together, but she clearly wants nothing to do with me. So, maybe a wish is how we get back together!”

“That is a very flawed way of thinking,” Zane argued, “If you have to wish for love, can you truly say that it is love?”

“Zane, you just don’t understand how wished work,” Jay replied.

“That may be true, but I DO know how love works. And forcing someone to love you is not love.”

“But Zane, what other choice to I have?” Jay pleaded.

“Oh, there’s another choice standing right next to her,” Zane said quietly.

“What?”  
“Oh, nothing.”

“Then it’s settled,” Lloyd was discussing with the other ninja. Jay and Zane walked over to join them. “Since we know so little about djinns, we need to head back into town and find out as much as we can.”

“But if we head back together, the police will arrest us as soon as we arrive,” Cole pointed out, “We should split up.”

“But whenever someone is alone with this djinn guy, they suddenly disappear,” Kai reminded.

“Then we’ll travel in pairs,” Lloyd commanded.

_ Pairs?  _ Jay thought,  _ This means I can spend some time with Nya! _

“Zane and I will go to the library,” Lloyd directed. Jay walked over to Nya excitedly.

“Yeah, and Jay and I can go to the crime scenes to investigate!” Cole added. He looked over at Jay and smiled. “What do you say buddy, just like old times?”

“Y-yeah,” Jay responded, trying not to sound upset. “Who doesn’t love old times, right?”

“Kai, you and Nya go see what else is out there,” Lloyd ordered, “If we want to clear our names and get Master Wu back, then we need to find this djinn as soon as possible. We’ll meet back here at sunrise, got it?”

The ninja nodded and split off into their groups, flying off on their dragons. “Where should we go first?” Cole asked.

“How about the art gallery?” Jay suggested.

“Oh, I see, you wanna clear your name first,” Cole teased.

“I have to prove my innocence, Cole,” Jay defended, “My parents think I’m a thief!”

“Yeah, I get it,” Cole responded, “It sucks having parents who doubt you. I should know.”

Jay sighed, “Yeah. At least you and your dad made up. I’ve never really had to deal with parent issues before. Well, minor things like my mom bugging me about clean underwear, but nothing extreme.”

“Yeah, you’re parents are great,” Cole agreed. 

They were nearing Ninjago City, so they decided to land on the ground near the outskirts and walk the rest of the way to prevent getting caught. Police were swarming the city making it difficult to sneak around. Luckily, their casual clothes disguised them. Jay and Cole entered the city without attracting a lot of attention. They were walking down the street in the direction of the art gallery. Cole looked over at Jay as they were walking. He looked absolutely adorable in his beanie. And his jacket looked really nice on him. He had a good sense of style. Cole shook his head.  _ Focus on the mission, Cole. Stop getting distracted.  _ He looked at Jay again. Jay noticed this and looked back.

“Cole? You ok? You keep looking at me,” Jay asked.

“Oh, no, I’m fine!” Cole insisted, turning his head away.

The two arrived at the art gallery. There was police tape blocking the entrance so no one could enter.

“Darn, how are we supposed to get in there?” Jay asked.

“We can sneak in through the back,” Cole suggested. 

“But what if the police find us?” Jay asked.

“That’s why we’re  _ sneaking  _ in.”

The two carefully made there way to the back of the art gallery, making sure no one saw them. They reached the back where there was a door. Jay grabbed the handle and tried to open it, but failed.

“It’s no use, the door’s locked,” Jay said.

“Uhh, Jay, I think you’re forgetting something,” Cole replied. He proceeded to walk through the door and opened it from the other side.

“Ha ha, yeah,” Jay rubbed the back of his head. “You know, sometimes I forget that you’re a ghost.”

“Yeah, me too,” Cole said, “Now c’mon, let’s see if we can find anything.”

They entered the gallery and looked around at the different exhibits. Every room was dark and the walls were wiped clean of any paintings except for a few that were left behind. 

“Whoever this was sure does like his art,” Cole commented.

“No kidding.” 

They continued their search until Jay came across a security camera. “Bingo!” he cheered, “If we can get the footage from here, we should be able to find our guy and clear my name!”

“Alright, let’s do this!” Cole responded happily. 

Jay walked up to the camera and prepared to use his powers to obtain the footage, when they heard someone.

“I think I heard something over here!” it sounded like a police officer.

Jay and Cole saw the faint light of a flashlight in the distance. “We need to get out of here!” Cole whisper yelled.

“But we didn't get the footage!” Jay argued.

“There’s no time!” Cole argued back. The light was getting closer. Panicked, Cole picked up Jay and started running towards the exit. 

“Cole!” Jay yelled, surprised by his sudden actions.

“Sorry Jay, but we can’t get caught! We’ll just have to go somewhere else!” 

They got to the back door. Cole ran through and slammed the door shut. 

“Can you put me down now?” Jay asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Cole responded, forgetting that he was still holding Jay. He gently put him down. 

“Quickly! They’re escaping!” the faint voice could be heard on the other side. 

“Run!” Cole yelled.

The two began running away from the gallery. They looked for a place to hide and ran into an alleyway. Jay hid behind a dumpster and Cole vanished and kept watch. A group of police officers ran by, leaving the two in the alleyway.

“The coast is clear.” Cole announced. Jay poked out from behind the dumpster and Cole reappeared. “Maybe we should try somewhere with less police,” Cole suggested.

“Yeah, probably.” Jay agreed.

They started walking out of the city so they could fly on their dragons again. Jay looked over at Cole.

“Hey, Cole?” he asked.

“Yeah?”  
“Thanks for saving me back there,” 

“It was nothing,” Cole assured, “You’re my best friend. I would never leave you like that.” The words  _ best friend  _ echoed in Cole’s mind.  _ Best friends… Is that all we’ll ever be?  _ He wondered.

The two were outside the city and flying on their dragons again. “Where to now?” Cole asked.

“We should go to Mega Monster Amusement Park,” Jay suggested, “It’s outside the city so the police probably won’t be there. We’ll have a much easier time searching for the culprit.”

“Good idea,” Cole responded. The sun was beginning to go down. 

“How do you think everyone else is doing?” Jay asked.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Cole replied, “With seeing how easily we escaped the police, I’m sure the others had no issues.”

The moon was high in the sky when the two arrived at the amusement park. Like with the art gallery, there was police tape at the entrance. However unlike at the gallery, there was no one else at the amusement park making sneaking in a lot easier.

“Looks like this place shut down after it became a crime scene,” Cole commented as they snuck through under the police tape, “Alright, let’s go check out the roller coaster. That’s where Zane was framed.”

“This place gives me so many fond memories,” Jay reminisced,  “It’s here where me and Nya went on our first date and I unlocked my true potential. Oh, I bet Nya and I will laugh about this.” He looked over at Cole who gave him a confused look. “I-I mean, why would she laugh? She hates me! Where is that roller coaster?” Jay tried to change the subject.

“There it is,” Cole pointed out. They walked over to the destroyed roller coaster to investigate. “Now, how are we supposed to find evidence? It’s not like we have any witnesses who can tell us what they saw.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” Jay insisted. He walked up to a set of monitors next to the roller coaster. He shot out some electricity to power them on. Pictures from the roller coaster appeared on each monitor.

“Jay, you’re a genius!” Cole complimented.

“It’s like I said, this is where I found my true potential.” Jay clicked through the photos that showed Zane on them. 

“Look!” Cole pointed at a picture with a strange guy on it. 

“These pictures were taken seconds after each other,” Jay said. He was flipping through two pictures, one with the mysterious guy and the next who had Zane sitting in the exact same spot. 

“This means that this djinn can shapeshift!” Cole realized, “He could be anybody!” Jay stuck his hand into Cole’s translucent body to see if it was really him. “Seriously?” Cole asked. 

“Just making sure it was really you,” Jay defended.

“Don’t worry, it’s still me,” Cole assured. The two chuckled and turned their attention back to the monitors. Jay clicked through the rest of the pictures to see if there was anything else. Cole started staring at Jay’s face again. He seemed to glow in the moonlight. He was too concentrated on the monitors to notice Cole staring.  _ I should tell him…  _ Cole thought,  _ I should just tell him and get it over with. But… what if he…  _ Cole was getting lost in his thoughts. “Jay? There’s… something I’ve been wanting to-” Cole was interrupted when the roller coaster activated out of nowhere.

“Oh no! What happened!” Jay asked in shock. 

“Guess we can add trespassing to your charges,” they heard a familiar voice, “and don’t bother calling your friends. I already caught them.”

“Ronin!” Cole and Jay stated at the same time. Cole vanished to hide himself.

“Seriously? You’re just gonna disappear?” Jay asked.

“If Ronin already has the others, we can’t risk us both getting caught,” Cole explained, “I’m sorry Jay, but you’re on your own.”

“Wow, Cole,” Jay argued. Jay started to run away, but was stopped by Ronin who shot an electrical net at Jay’s legs. He fell down and kicked the net off. “Do you really think you can electrocute the master of lighting?” Jay questioned as Ronin walked up to him.

“You may be the master of lightning, but are you the master of kablooey?” Ronin asked, pointing what seemed to be a rocket launcher at Jay.

“AHHH!” Jay yelled. He jumped onto the roller coaster cars as they rode past. Ronin followed and jumped into one of the cars near the back. “It wasn’t us, Ronin!” Jay defended, “It was a djinn! He can change his form to look like anyone! That’s how he did it! That's how he framed us!”

“Tell it to the judge,” Ronin ignored, getting his launcher ready. He shot out a missile that exploded into a large net. It flew right towards Jay, but missed when the roller coaster flew down a hill.  Jay started screaming as he held onto the car, the roller coaster flying at high speeds. Ronin jumped to the front of the cars where Jay was. The roller coaster started going up a hill again and Jay quickly stood up. He stared to run towards the back of the cars to escape Ronin who was close behind. Jay jumped into one of the cars as the roller coaster began to go in a loop. The cars turned upside down and Jay and Ronin both dangled from them. 

“If you take us out, who’s gonna protect Ninjago?” Jay questioned.

“Not my problem,” Ronin dismissed. Jay looked down and saw another set of cars were coming by. He let go of the upside down car and landed in the seat of one below. 

“Ha ha!” Jay mocked as the cars rode away. Ronin scanned the area and noticed Jay was heading for a loop. Ronin quickly threw a shuriken at the control panel as Jay was heading for the loop. It hit the lever, turning the roller coaster off right as Jay reached the top of the loop. He fell out of the car and began screaming. Ronin jumped down to where Jay would land and caught him in a burlap sack. He tied the sack shut, keeping Jay inside.

“That’s five down, one to go,” Ronin stated, looking around the park.

“This is bad, this is really bad,” Cole sat talking to himself, hiding at one of the game stands.  He was chomping away on some funnel cake to help calm himself down. “I can’t believe I left Jay! I told him I would never leave him and I left him! He’s probably gotten caught by now…” Cole rambled to himself, his mouth full of funnel cake. “I should have just told him. Zane was right! I mean, he’s not dead. They wouldn’t kill him, but still. What if I never see him again? No, Cole, you’re being dramatic. If you get the information to the police, then everyone will be set free! But how am I gonna escape? Wait, I’m a ghost! I’m invisible! I can easily escape!”

“I know you’re here, Cole,” Ronin’s voice interrupted Cole’s ramblings, “The funnel cake crumbs gave you away. You always were a nervous eater.”

“Maybe,” Cole said, standing up, “But how do you catch what you can’t see? Where am I? Am I over here? Maybe I’m over here?” he taunted. “I’m not just like a ghost, I AM a ghost!”

“I’ve got thermal vision, Cole,” Ronin explained, swirling his electric net.

“Wait, you do?” Cole asked. Ronin threw the net at Cole, tying his legs together and making him fall over and giving him a small electric shock.

“Would you look at that, I’m a winner,” Ronin responded, taunting Cole. “Now, let’s get you two to the police station.”


	4. (Ep. 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much the same exact events as the episode with some minor things added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this wasn't really my best chapter... I couldn't really think of new scenes to add, so most of it is just a basic retelling of the episode. (sucks that I had to cut out the parts with Misfortune's Keep cause those were actually my favorite parts of the episode)  
> Don't worry, we're gonna be getting into the good stuff soon  
> Also, writing Pixal is really hard for this fic cause Zane is the only one who can interact with her, so I added a small Opposite scene instead cause I also really like that ship

The ninja were being led through Kryptarium Prison with shackles around their wrists and legs. They walked down a hallway of jail cells holding both familiar and unfamiliar criminals. As they were walking, Jay tripped over himself and almost fell down. Cole caught him before he fell and helped him back up.

“Don’t look scared, look mean,” Cole advised, “You gotta look tough in a place like this.” Jay nodded and attempted to make an intimidating face, but just ended up looking like a dork. The criminals continued banging on the bars and yelling at the ninja as the continued down the hall. 

“Don’t mind them,” the warden said, “They get a little restless when they don’t get their meat.”

“M-meat?” Jay asked, his voice shaky. They noticed a lunch lady walking down the hallway pushing a tray full of food. Jay laughed nervously as she walked by.

“We’ve been here before,” Zane stated, “Just, always as guests, never inmates.”

Lloyd was attempting the break the shackles on his wrists by pulling them apart, but failed. “You can try breaking free, but it won’t work,” the warden explained, “Those shackles are made of vengestone, meaning you won’t be able to use your powers, and YOU won’t be able to ghost out of them,” he gestured towards Cole.

“Oh yeah? Well how good are they against my super strength?” Cole asked. He attempted to break the shackles, much like Lloyd. “Hold on, I’ve almost got them!” Cole grunted as he tried to pull the chains apart.

“They aren’t gonna break,” Nya stated.

“Darn,” Cole responded.

The ninja were reaching the end of the hallway where a large door was. “Since you’re celebrities, we won’t keep you with the general population,” the warden informed.

“Heh, who doesn’t like special treatment?” Kai asked, turning to the others.

“So, we’ll be placing you with the super mean and dangerous population,” the warden continued, opening the door to reveal a large, circular room holding many dangerous criminals. 

“Real special, all right,” Nya retorted towards Kai.

“Hey, it’s no problem, officer,” Lloyd reassured, “We’ll do our time until this is all straightened out. Like I said before, we were framed.”

“That’s what they all say,” the warden ignored. He gestured to an empty cell, “Alright, get in,” he ordered. He felt his jacket to get his keys, but couldn’t find them. “Hold on, I forgot my keys. Stay here while I go find them.” The warden walked off, leaving the ninja alone with two other guards. They looked out on all the jail cells with all the angry criminals.

“H-hey, at least they’re all locked up,” Jay assured nervously. They looked over to a guy on the floor level with a robotic arm and eye. He pushed a button on his arm causing all the cell doors to open. The criminals all walked out. “Of course,” Jay said. The robotic guy walked up to the ninja.

“Nifty gadget,” Lloyd complimented, “Did you make that?”

“They call me the Mechanic,” the criminal ignored, “And I’ve got a bone to pick with you ninja.”

“Well then, that’s one more bone than you’ve got in your entire arm. And let me guess, you don’t have much of a spine either,” Lloyd quickly turned his tone around.

“I used to repair noodle trucks for Master Chen,” the Mechanic explained, “Until you ninja came along and put me out of business.”

“Well then, that’s your own fault,” Zane pointed out, “Working for a crime boss isn’t a very reliable career choice.”

“Hmph. Actions have consequences, ninja,” the Mechanic continued, “And you’re gonna pay. This nindroid. He’s got some spare parts,” he pointed at Zane, “I could really use them in a place like this.”

“And I could use a spare arm,” Lloyd defended, pushing the Mechanic away from his friend, “These chains won’t stop us.”

“I got my keys,” the warden announced as he walked back. He saw the two arguing. “Oh, come on you two, shake hands and be friends.”

The Mechanic and Lloyd looked at each other and shook each other’s hand. “You just wait til I get my hands on your nindroid,” he whispered to Lloyd.

“Alright everyone, get back to your cells,” one of the guards ordered. The criminals all walked back into their cells and one of the guards lead the ninja into their cell.

“Let’s hope Dareth gets us out of here soon,” Kai said, “I don’t know how long we’ll last in a place like this.

That night, the ninja struggled to fall asleep. There wasn’t enough room for all of them in one cell and there was only one bed. After arguing over who got to sleep on the bed, Jay suggested that Nya should have it. Though initially annoyed by Jay clearly trying to appeal to her, she decided to just go ahead and go with it. The rest of the ninja found spots on the floor to rest.

“Hey, Cole?” Jay whispered.

“Yeah?” Cole sat up.

“What was it you wanted to tell me?”

“Huh?” Cole asked, confused.

“At the amusement park,” Jay reminded, “You said there was something you had been meaning to tell me.”

Cole suddenly remembered. “O-oh that? It wasn’t anything important. Honestly, I don’t even remember.”

Jay blinked at him. “Ok? Well, I just hope you know that you can trust me. We’re best friends. Nothing will change that, right?” 

“Of course,” Cole responded with a smile, “Now, go to bed. We’ll need our rest for tomorrow.” He lay down, facing away from Jay.  _ Yeah, best friends…  _ he thought.

Jay sighed as he lay down.  _ I know I should tell him about Nya, but I don’t want to hurt him…  _ he thought,  _ I can’t lose him again… _

The next day, the ninja got a visit from Dareth. Dareth picked up the phone to talk to the ninja through the glass.

“When are you gonna get us out of here!” Cole yelled through the phone.

“This is no place for a nindroid!” Zane panicked.

“I don’t look good in stripes!” Kai complained.

“Everyone is so mean! You have to help us, Dareth!” Jay pleaded.

“Guys, calm down,” Lloyd said. He looked at Dareth. “While we’re stick in here, that djinn is stuck out there, doing who know what,”

“I know, I know, I’m doing everything I can,” Dareth explained, “Borg wanted me to tell you that the djinn broke into the stronghold keeping the Realm Crystal and stole it. This means he probably has his old crew back.”

“You HAVE to get us out of here!” Kai demanded.

Dareth looked back at one of the guards and turned back to the ninja. “Did you get the cake?” he whispered through the phone, “I baked some tools in it so you could break through the bars.”

“Cake? We didn't get any cake,” Jay responded.

“Oops,” Cole said. The ninja all turned to him. “How was I supposed to know there was something in it? I just thought it was crunchy.”

“YOU ATE OUR ONLY WAY OUT OF HERE!?” Jay yelled at Cole.

“I’m sorry guys, but it looks like you’re on your own,” Dareth said, “Be strong ninja.”

“What do you mean ‘on our own’!?” Kai asked angrily. Dareth started walking away as the ninja continued screaming at him through the phone.

It got to lunch time and the ninja were in the line with their trays getting food. The lunch lady plopped extra slop onto Kai’s tray. “You get a little extra, cause you’re my favorite,” she responded, smiling at Kai. Kai just nervously moved on through the line.

“You did say you wanted special treatment,” Nya pointed out to her brother. The ninja all walked together to a table to sit at.

“This isn’t fair!” Jay complained, “We’re the good guys! We shouldn’t be stuck here with the bad guys!”

“What was that thing your favorite movie character always says?” Cole asked, “Fair isn’t a word where I come from.”

“The word is FEAR, Cole!” Jay corrected, “And if galactic space hero, Fritz Donnegan, was here, we’d already be out of this place.”

Cole picked up a muffin on his tray and smacked it on the tray. It was very hard and made a thud noise when it hit the tray. “Is this a muffin or a fossilized rock?” Cole complained. 

“Knowing you, you’ll eat it anyway,” Jay teased.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Cole shrugged.

Cole and Jay joined the other ninja who were already sitting at a table. “Ok guys,” Lloyd said, “we may not be able to go fight, but we can still discuss what we found. We need to find out as much as we can about this djinn.”

“Did somebody say djinn?” The ninja looked over and saw Captain Soto who walked over to the ninja’s table. “You best not be talking about Nadakhan the djinn.”

“His name is Nadakhan?” Kai asked.

“Hey guys! It’s Captain Soto! The first captain of the Destiny's bounty!” Jay pointed out.

“And it’s Jay! The whiny blue pajama man who says everything obvious!” Soto retorted.

The other ninja started laughing quietly. “Why is everyone here so mean?” Jay responded, annoyed.

“But who this be?” Soto asked, looking at Nya, “Are you a… pajama woman?”

“You could say that,” Nya answered.

“No, I know you from somewhere else…” Soto pondered.

“Ok, enough small talk,” Lloyd interrupted, “You know Nadakhan?” he asked Soto.

“Know him? I was the one who trapped him,” Soto explained.

“How do we trap him?” Kai asked.

“Trapping a djinn is very difficult. You pajama people probably won’t understand, but I can try to explain,” Soto stated. He explained the story of Nadakhan to the ninja of how he was the most feared pirate of the seven seas along with his crew, Misfortune’s Keep. Being from another realm, Nadakhan was more powerful than any other pirate in Ninjago. But Soto managed to trap him inside a teapot, where he stayed for thousands of years. “The hard part isn’t trapping him in a vessel,” Soto explained, “It’s making sure he doesn’t poof away before you do it.”

“Easy, just wish him into it,” Kai pointed out.

“Everyone knows the rules,” Soto said, “You can’t wish for more wishes, you can’t wish for love, and-”

“What do you mean you can’t wish for love?” Jay interrupted. Cole and Nya both looked at Jay. “I’m uh… asking for a friend,” Jay lied.

“Like I was saying,” Soto continued, “You can’t wish for more wishes, you can’t wish for love, and you can’t wish to harm others. Wishing a djinn into a teapot would most certainly qualify as harming others.”

“So then, how DO we catch a djinn?” Lloyd asked.

“In order to stop a djinn,” Soto said.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the ninja,” Soto was interrupted by the Mechanic who walked up to their table along with multiple other crooks. “Now, let’s talk about those spare parts.”

“Not now,” Cole said, “We’re dealing with top tier bad guys right now. You’re fifth tier, maybe fourth at max.”

“Fourth tier!?” the Mechanic asked angrily. The other criminals began getting more aggressive and started grabbing plates and silverware.

“Look at that, pajama people,” Soto stated, “They have all the weapons, and you’re all chained up.”

“Yeah, it’s almost a fair fight,” Cole taunted. The ninja all stood up and threw their food at the crooks. They used their trays as shields as they ran up to them. A full on fight began as all the criminals attacked the ninja. However, even wearing chains, the ninja were still skilled fighters and difficult to take down.

“Where’s Zane!?” Kai asked, worried. The ninja looked around for their friend and noticed that the Mechanic and another guy had grabbed him and was messing with him in the corner. “You stay away from him!” Kai yelled, running up to the Mechanic. He ran his body into the Mechanic’s knocking him over “Zane, are you ok?” he asked.

“I believe so,” Zane responded, sitting back up, “Thank you, Kai.” The two of them ran back into the fight to help the other ninja.

“Soto, finish what you were gonna say,” Lloyd ordered as they fought, “You said you knew how to catch Nadakhan,”

“The only way to slow down a djinn long enough to catch them, is with the venom of a tiger widow,” Soto explained, “One drop can kill a man, or tire a djinn.”

“I’ve never heard of a tiger widow,” Lloyd responded, “where do we find one?”

“They are very rare. They’re only found on one island, invisible to any map, by my own.”

“Then where’s your map?” Kai asked as he kicked someone away.

“Alright, alright, fun time’s over,” the guards interrupted the fight, grabbing the criminals, “Take em back to their cells.”

“Not the ninja,” the warden ordered, “They go to the hole for starting this fight.”

“Wait! Soto, tell us where the map is!” Lloyd ordered as the guards pushed the ninja away.

“Break me out of here and I’ll tell ya,” Soto responded.

“I guess we can find the venom on our own, it’ll just take, I don’t know, eight to ten years,” Kai suggested.

“Or, we break out of here tonight, with Soto,” Lloyd responded.

That night, the ninja were trapped in a small pit. They were chained to the walls with a grate on the top, closed with a lock and chain. 

“This is literally our lowest point,” Jay said, “We’re in a hole. Rock bottom.”

“I mean on the bright side, if we were never arrested, we never would have talked to Soto,” Nya reminded.

“If only we could use our powers to get out,” Zane said.

“Don’t worry guys, I have a plan,” Lloyd assured. He pulled a fork from his back pocket. “I managed to snag this while we left lunch.”

“Oh wow, a fork. So helpful,” Kai retorted.

“Don’t be so pessimistic, Kai,” Lloyd responded. He used the fork to pick the lock on his cuffs, opening them and freeing himself. He then used his powers to break open everyone else out. They all stood up with Lloyd.

“Great, we have our powers back,” Jay stated, “But how do we get out of this hole?”

“I’ll explain the plan as we go,” Lloyd informed, “Cole, you can ghost through the bars and break the chain open.”

Cole nodded and jumped up through the bars. He grabbed the chain and pulled on it until the chains broke He opened up the door and the other ninja climbed out.

“Now, we go find Soto,” Lloyd explained, blasting a hole in the wall. “Jay, you make sure we aren’t seen.”

Jay turned the corner where there were a bunch of security cameras. Using his powers, he zapped them all, turning them off.  The arrived at Soto’s cell where Kai burned a hole through the bars. This caused Soto to wake up.

“Come with me, quietly,” Kai directed. Soto jumped out of bed and walked through the open bars. 

Sirens started going off as the guards realized the ninja had escaped. “Zane, make sure we aren’t followed,” Lloyd ordered. Zane obeyed and turned the corner where the guards were following them. He created a large ice wall to block them off.  They reached a dead end and used their powers together to create a hole on the wall. The climbed through, and Kai covered the hole with a poster. They all crawled through the hole one by one until they reached a room full of pipes. “The main door will be well guarded, so we need to escape through the sewer pipes,” Lloyd explained. 

“Sewer pipes? Ew, gross!” Jay commented.

“Nya, make sure we get through quickly,” Lloyd ordered.

“Already covered,” Nya reassured.

The ninja all jumped into the pipe with Nya at the back. Kai and Zane both picked up Cole so he wouldn’t touch the water. Nya started shooting water behind her, sending them down the pipe. They all came out the end of the pipe, outside the prison. 

“Wow, Lloyd, how’d you come up with that plan?” Jay asked as they all got out of the puddle at the end of the pipe.

Lloyd shrugged. “I’ve seen a lot of prison movies. You learn a thing or two from them.”

“Thank you pajama people,” Soto thanked.

“Ok Soto, we helped you escape, now tell us where the map is,” Kai ordered.

“The map is hidden within a lantern,” Soto explained, “Light it’s candle, and the map will appear.”

“Then where is the lantern?” Jay demanded.

“That’s the tricky part,” Soto answered, “It’s aboard Misfortune’s Keep, Nadakhan’s ship.”

“Nadakhan’s ship? I thought we wanted to avoid that guy,” Cole stated.

“I never said it was going to be easy,” Soto said, “Good luck, pajama people.” Soto began walking off when he stopped. “Wait, I remember why you look so familiar,” he said, turning to Nya, “Wow, you’re a spitting image of her!”

“Of who?” Nya asked.

“Ahh, that’s not important,” Soto replied. He started walking off again, leaving the ninja to themselves.

“We’d better get going,” Lloyd said. The ninja nodded and they ran off, away from the prison.


	5. (Ep. 4 Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during the first part of episode 4, not many changes, but it is mostly focused on Jay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another episode I decided to split into two chapters. This chapter is mainly just focused on Jay, but we will get more Cole focus so don't worry. Even though this was very similar to the actual episode, I didn't hate writing it. I think it's cause I just like this episode a lot more than the last one.

The ninja had split up once again in order to gain information about Nadakhan’s whereabouts. Jay and Nya were disguised at the police station, Kai and Zane went to go find the bounty, and Cole and Lloyd went to find Nadakhan’s ship. They all kept in contact through their communication devices that they wore on their wrists. 

“We must find those ninja!” the sheriff ordered, “They can’t just break out of Kryptarium Prison and disappear! We need witnesses, locations, anything! These fugitives are ninja, they could be right under our noses!”

“Alright, I’m in their secured network,” Nya whispered into her communication device, “But I still need that password.”

“I’m looking for it now,” Jay whispered back, “But I still don’t understand why we need to hack into their systems when we have a nindroid.”

“Nindroids don’t know everything,” Nya replied, “Uh, no offence, Zane.”

“I understand, Nya. Information about Misfortune’s Keep is still very sparse in my database,” Zane responded back.

“We need to find Nadakhan’s ship. If Captain Soto is right and the map to the only thing that can stop him is on that ship, we need it’s location ASAP,” Nya explained.

“Ok, ok, I’ll find that password!” Jay said, looking through a bunch of papers, “Hey, what was the password again?” Jay asked, putting on a fake voice.

“The password is password,” one of the detectives answered.

“Got that, Nya?” Jay asked.

Nya began typing into her computer. “I’m in,” she responded, “I’m looking through the city’s records to try and find the last known whereabouts of the ship. Speaking of which, Kai, how’s Destiny’s Bounty holding up?”

“I’ve got my eyes on it now, sis,” Kai said, “Zane and I are going after it now.”

Nya continued searching through the database and reading the information about Misfortune’s Keep. “I found it’s location,” she announced, “It was last seen on the shores of Gypsy’s Cove. Got that?”

“Got it, Nya,” Cole responded, “We’re on our way there now.”

“Nya, we’re having some difficulties!” Kai yelled through the device.

“Well, if you can’t get the bounty, the get out of there!” Nya whisper yelled at him.

“Get out of there? But we just got here,” Cole said.

“No, not you Cole. Did you guys find Nadakhan’s ship?”

“Not exactly, but we did find some evidence of it,” Lloyd explained, “But this is weird. There’s electrical equipment here. Why would this stuff be in the same place as an old pirate ship?”

“Maybe the ship’s already left for sea,” Cole suggested.

“I can’t find signals of it anywhere,” Nya informed, “You’d think a big pirate ship would be easier to find.”

“Well if his ship isn’t here, and it’s not out there, then where is it?” Lloyd asked.

“Good question,” Nya responded.

“What’s a good question?” the sheriff asked, walking up to Nya.

“Uh… The question is, what time is lunch? All this searching is making me hungry,” Nya replied swiftly.

“You’re right, we can’t think straight on an empty stomach. We’ll resume after lunch,” the sheriff directed. He began walking away as everyone started to get ready to leave for lunch.

“Guess that means us too,” Jay stated, walking over to Nya, “I actually am getting hungry though, so we should get some food.”

Nya sighed. “Yeah, I guess we’ll just have to keep looking later.”

The two of them headed downstairs to the floor level. There was a food truck outside that all the other officers went to get lunch, so Jay and Nya decided to follow them. They got outside and saw a line was already forming at the truck, so they got in line at the back. Eventually, it was their turns.

“Let me take care of that,” Jay stopped Nya, “A gentleman, er, I mean, a superior always pays.” Jay reached into his pockets but soon realized he was broke.

Nya gave an annoyed sigh and pulled out some money. “Here, this should cover the both of us.” She grabbed the two trays and handed one to Jay.

“Heh, thanks,” Jay thanked awkwardly. The two walked to a pair of benches to sit down. They took off their hats and set them next to their trays. “Heh heh, if I had a dime for every time I was broke,” Jay joked. Nya just gave a disappointed sigh in response. “What? What did I say?” Jay asked, worried.

“I expect this kind of stuff from the others, but not from you, Jay,” 

“What? Can’t I buy, or at least try to buy lunch for a friend?”

“But I know you don’t see me as just a friend. This whole week you’ve made it pretty obvious you still have some feelings, and I know I’ve been kind of a jerk about it, but…” Nya trailed off.

“It’s cause I’m from a junkyard, isn’t it?” Jay asked harshly.

“What? Of course not,” Nya responded, “We’re friends, Jay, good friends, but that’s all we’ll ever be.” Nya sighed again. “Look, I’m already the girl ninja. I don’t want people’s idea of me to be based solely on who I’m seeing. I want them to see me for who I am and for who I’m fighting. Who the team’s fighting.”

“I get it. I real friend wouldn’t put you in that position,” Jay said, sounding a bit upset, “I’m sorry, Nya.”

“Thank you for understanding, and hey, I’m sure you’ll find someone else out there.” Nya reassured. “Hug?”

“How about a high five instead?” Jay suggested, not realizing he was holding his burger. They slapped their hands together, spilling ketchup on Jay’s shirt.”Ha, look at that, looks like lunch IS on me,” Jay joked awkwardly, “I uh, better go find a place to clean this off.” He began walking away, leaving Nya alone with the rest of the food. “Ugh, you’re such a dork Jay!” he complained to himself, “You see ONE glimpse of you and Nya together in the future and instantly think everything will just fall into place. I wish I never saw my future.”

Suddenly, a poof of orange smoke appeared in front of Jay, causing him to jump back. The smoke formed into a floating figure, staring back at Jay. “So, you want the girl? I can help with that,” the mysterious figure offered.

“N-Nadakhan!” Jay replied, startled, “Oh no, we weren’t supposed to be alone!”

“Why be so upset? After all, I can help you get everything you want,” Nadakhan persuaded.

“Because bad things happen when people are alone with you! I can scream you know, Nya’s RIGHT over there!” Jay defended.

“Well then, I guess she’ll never be yours,” Nadakhan said, beginning to float away.

“Wait wait wait, I thought you weren’t allowed to wish for love?” Jay questioned.

“Ah, that is true, but there are ways around it, ways to get what you want,” Nadakhan explained, “Then again, I guess a poor boy from a junkyard wouldn’t understand.”

“Well, I guess one wish wouldn’t hurt,” Jay said, “But, no one else would find out, right? Just between you and me?”

“Of course, you have my word,” Nadakhan promised.

“Alright then. Then, I wish… I wish I wasn’t born in a junkyard, I wish I wasn’t poor anymore, and that I could give Nya everything she wants,” Jay said.

Nadakhan smiled. “Your wish is yours to keep,” he said before poofing away in a puff of orange smoke.

From seemingly out of nowhere, the mailman rode up to Jay on his bicycle. “There, you are!” he stated, “I’ve been looking all over Ninjago for you. Don’t worry, I won’t report you to the authorities, just delivering the mail.” He handed a letter to Jay. Jay grabbed it and opened it, reading it out loud.

“I’m sorry to inform you, but your father has passed away,” Jay’s voice suddenly softened and grew slightly shaky, “You have inherited his estate and lots and lots of money…” He dropped the letter and stepped back. His breaths shortened as he started thinking about what he had done. He instantly started running away, summoning his dragon and flying away, completely ignoring the fact that he could easily blow his cover. He flew as quickly as he could to his parent’s junkyard as he quietly whispered “Please no, please oh god no,” to himself repeatedly. He arrived at the junkyard and jumped off his dragon as soon as he landed. “Mom! Dad!” he yelled as he ran to his parent’s mobile home. He ran inside and saw his mom sitting alone inside. “Mom!” Jay yelled once more.

“Oh, what is it, son? What’s all the fuss?” Edna asked.

“Where’s dad!? Is he ok!?” Jay asked, panicked.

“Oh, I’m sorry Jay, he’s not here,” Edna responded.

“No,” Jay whispered to himself. His eyes had started turning red and tears began to form. He went to wipe his face when he heard someone.

“I’m back,” Ed announced, walking into the mobile home, “Oh, Jay! What a pleasant surprise!”

“Dad!” Jay yelled. He grabbed his dad and hugged him, squeezing him as tight as he could. “I thought I lost you! I got a letter saying my father died and that I got a lot of money and I-I would never wish for this! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” Jay rambled, tears still rolling down his face.

Ed and Edna looked at each other, giving slightly worried expressions. “Jay, deary, there has been something we’ve been meaning to tell you,” Edna said, walking up to her son. Jay looked at her in confusion, and then back at his dad.

“Ahh, but gee willikers, there just was no easy way to tell you,” Ed said, “You see, son,” he paused, “you’re uh… you’re adopted.”

“Uhh… wh-what?” Jay looked around in confusion. “I’m adopted?”

“Oh, we’re sorry, Jay. We should have told you sooner,” Edna said, putting a comforting hand on Jay’s shoulder, “You were left at our doorstep as a baby, along with this key and address.” She handed them to Jay, “Oh, you were the cutest baby we had ever seen.”

“And we gladly raised you as our own ever since,” Ed explained. Jay stared at the key and address and gave a little nervous laugh. “I… I hope this doesn’t change anything,” Ed said.

“Of course not,” Jay reassured, “But, I should probably go check this place out. To uh… to see who my birth dad was.”

“Oh, of course, Jay. But, maybe you should change your clothes before you go,” Edna pointed to his still stained shirt.

“Oh, yeah, that, ha ha,” Jay remembered. After a quick change into his casual clothes, Jay summoned his dragon and flew off to the place listed on the note. 

He arrived at a large house at the top of a hill near the outskirts of Ninjago City. It was closed off by a large fancy fence that the key unlocked. “Woah, is this where my birth father lived?” Jay asked as he put the key in the fence. He opened it up and walked on the path up to the house. He opened the doors and saw that the whole house was decorated with expensive items. Blue was a common theme throughout the house. Jay stared at everything in amazement. He noticed another room and walked in to explore. In the other room, there was a giant statue of Jay’s TV idol, Fritz Donnegan, along with a painting of him against the wall. He looked up at the statue as it uttered the phrase, “Fear isn’t a word where I come from!”. “Would you look at that, my father was a fan of Fritz Donnegan too!” Jay chuckled. He walked over to shelf holding multiple trophies. “Wow, he had so many trophies” he pointed out, touching each trophy as he walked by them. He got to the one at the end and moved it forwards slightly. Jay heard a noise and noticed the painting moving to reveal a hidden room behind it. Jay walked into the room which was filled with different costumes and a vanity that had many photos of Fritz Donnegan taped onto it. “My father wasn’t just a fan of Fritz Donnegan,” Jay realized, “he WAS Fritz Donnegan!” 

Jay continued looking through the room. There was a poster of his father next to the vanity, and in the back of the room was an area with one of Jay’s old gi’s along with photos of him. “Huh, so he kept track of my adventures,” Jay commented. His attention then turned to book that was sitting next to a ray gun. “Cliff Gordon’s Handbook to Wooing Women?” Jay read, “That must be his real name, Cliff Gordon. That means my real name would be Jay Gordon.” He opened up the book to the first chapter and read, “Women love mystery. When talking to them, less is more.” 

Jay was interrupted by a poof of smoke behind him. “Are you ready for your second wish?” Nadakhan asked. Panicked, Jay quickly grabbed the ray gun that was next to the book and turned around quickly, aiming it at Nadakhan and pulling the trigger. However, it was only a prop gun and only shot out a BANG flag. “Adorable,” Nadakhan commented.

“What did you do? Did you change the past?” Jay demanded.

“Oh, I wish,” Nadakhan replied, “I simply revealed the truth to you about your life that you were previously unaware about.”

“Then I don’t want to make another wish,” Jay said.

“Everyone wants a second wish,” Nadakhan insisted, “A second chance to make things right.”

“No,” Jay demanded, turning away.

“Don’t resist the urge. What do you want? More power? More prestige? Maybe a working ray gun?”

“No! I don’t want anything. I just wish I wasn’t alone with you.” Suddenly, the doorbell started ringing. “Dangit! I did it again!” Jay realized.

“Don’t forget you have a third wish,” Nadakhan whispered into Jay’s ear before poofing away once more.

Jay gave a sigh of relief before running out of the hidden room, moving the painting back before he answered the door. He opened the door to reveal it was Nya.

“Hey Jay,” Nya greeted.

“Nya! How’d you get here?” Jay asked.

“After you left, I got worried, so I called your dad and he said you’d be here,” Nya explained, “Speaking of which, why are you here?”

“Uhh…” Jay started thinking of a response.  _ Women love mystery. When talking to them, less is more,  _ The words repeated in his head. He then gave a smug face.

“Fear isn’t a word where I come from,” the statue repeated again.

“Fritz Donnegan? Jay, is this your stuff?” Nya asked.

“If you have a secret hideout, why can’t I?” Jay asked back.

“Wow, I never would have guessed,” Nya responded. She looked around in amazement at all the things in the room. “C’mon, the team needs us. And don’t worry, this place will be our secret.” 

Nya started walking to the door. Jay stopped and looked at the statue of his dad. “Thanks dad, I owe you one,” he whispered as he left the house.


	6. (Ep. 4 Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during the second part of Episode 4, right after Jay explores his birth dad's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Similar to some of the previous chapters, this is pretty similar to the episode. The scene in the beginning was added to give Cole a little more focus. Also there were minor changes like they're meeting at a restaurant, but in the actual episode it was like this fight club thing. I just felt a restaurant fit better. This chapter is also pretty short compared to the others. This will also hopefully be the last chapter that is basically the same as the episode because we're gonna be getting into the parts that are very changed soon

“Dude, you should just tell him,” Kai, Zane, Lloyd and Cole were all at restaurant as a meet up point. They were waiting for Nya and Jay to arrive, and Cole decided to open up about his crush on Jay to Kai and Lloyd. 

“I know, I know,” Cole responded to Kai.

“I’ve been trying to tell him this all week,” Zane added.

“I almost told him. At the amusement park, but then Ronin showed up, and when I got the chance again, I got too nervous. What if Jay isn’t even into guys?”

“Well, Kai’s one of the people I’d least expect to be into guys, but just look at him,” Lloyd pointed out.

“Just what are you implying?” Kai asked in defense.

Zane looked at him. “Kai, we’ve been dating for over a year now.”

“Ok, you have a point.”

Cole sighed. “I already ruined our friendship once. I don’t want to ruin it again.”

“Cole, that wasn’t your fault,” Lloyd assured, “Nya was the one who developed a crush on you.”

“Yeah, but I should have just backed down. I knew how Jay felt and I wanted to be with Nya anyway.”

“You cannot help the way you feel, Cole,” Zane insisted, “And besides, that whole idea was for Nya to decide, not you and not Jay.”

“But what if Jay and Nya get back together?” Cole asked, “I know I should be happy for him, but I just can’t help but feel…”

“Jealous?” Lloyd suggested.

“Yeah, maybe a little bit.” Cole admitted.

“Trust me Cole, Nya is NOT into Jay anymore. She’s moved on,” Kai said.

“But has Jay moved on? I just keep getting this feeling that he still likes her. Despite the fact that Nya has pushed him away multiple times, he keeps trying to help her out all the time. It’s like he has this mindset that they’re meant to be together.”

“You could say that,” Zane replied quietly.

“What was that?” Cole asked, unable to hear the nindroid.

“Oh, nothing,” Zane replied.

Cole let out a sigh. “It’s taking them a while to get here. Do you think Jay’s ok?”

“Uh, why wouldn’t he be?” Kai asked, confused.

“Well Nya said he ran off meaning that he was alone, and didn't Wu and Misako both disappear when they were alone? You don’t think something happened to Jay, do you?”

“Cole, I think you’re just overreacting,” Lloyd advised, “I’m sure Jay is fine.”

“But what if he’s not fine! This whole thing with Nadakhan and being fugitives has got me REALLY stressed out, and when is the food gona get here!?”

“Cole, we just ordered like two minutes ago,” Lloyd said.

“I eat when I’m stressed, Lloyd!” Cole argued.

“Hey guys, sorry we’re late,” Nya walked up to the table along with Jay. They sat at the table. 

_ Ok, he’s fine,  _ Cole thought to himself, relieved. 

“Alright guys, we need to find Nadakhan, but we haven’t been able to find his ship anywhere. Any ideas?” Lloyd asked.

“He could be anywhere! We have no idea where he could show up,” Cole said.

“Heh, heh, yeah,” Jay responded nervously. Luckily, none of the others seemed to notice his suspicious behavior, but Jay was still nervous about his whole encounter with Nadakhan.  _ Just as long as we don’t split up, we’ll be fine,  _ Jay reassured himself.

“I’m just tired of all this sneaking around,” Kai complained, “I wanna go out and do something about this!”

“Easy, Kai,” Lloyd affirmed, “We’re all itching to get out there, but so far two of our own are missing, and none of us have even SEEN Nadakhan.”

“If only we knew someone who faced him and could tell us what to expect,” Zane added.

Jay looked down at the table, trying not to look nervous.  _ You should tell them, Jay,  _ he thought to himself,  _ But then they’d know I made a wish! Then Nya would know- _

Lloyd continued talking, “I just wish we-”

“No! Don’t say that!” Jay yelled, panicked. Everyone looked at Jay in confusion. 

“Jay? Are you alright?” Cole asked him.

“I-I’m fine, it’s just, why wish for something when we have everything we need right here, ha ha,” Jay attempted an explanation.

The ninja were interrupted in their conversation by one of the televisions displayed in the restaurant. “It seems that Ninjago is once again being attacked by pirates, or in this case, SKY pirates!” the reporter explained. The footage showed a flying pirate ship flying through Ninjago City. An anchor below started dragging cars around as the pirates wreaked havoc upon the city. 

“We have to help!” Cole argued.

“But we’re fugitives,” Zane reminded, “If we go out there, there’s a high chance we will be caught again.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re ninja, and it’s our job to protect the innocent,” Lloyd reminded.

“Besides, Soto said the map was on that ship,” Nya pointed back to the T.V., “If we want to stop Nadakhan, we need it.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for? It’s time to get back into the action!” Kai responded.

The ninja suited up and made their way into the city. The ship was in the middle of the city by now and had started shooting cannons at buildings. The ninja ran through the rooftops to the wreckage in the city. They arrived at a building close to where the ship was flying by. 

“Alright guys, for our own safety, travel in pairs,” Lloyd ordered, “Don’t forget, we need that map.”

“I forget, what did the map look like again?” Cole asked.

“Soto said it was on a lantern, look for a lantern,” Zane reminded. 

The ninja jumped down to the streets. Lloyd and Cole landed in front of the police who were attempting to take the ship down. “Protect the people, commissioner,” Lloyd ordered, “We’ll take care of the pirates.” Lloyd and Cole then ran off towards the ship. They climbed back onto the rooftops but were ambushed by two of Nadakhan’s crew members, one of them had a mask like face with a smile, the other was a tall and buff woman. “Cole, get to the ship! I’ll take care of these two,” Lloyd said.

“I got it,” Cole assured. Using his airjitzu, he jumped on top of a nearby billboard and then onto the ship.

Kai and Jay were on their way to the ship. As they were running, one of the pirates threw an explosive barrel at the two of them. “Look out!” Jay yelled. He jumped back, but Kai jumped over it and kept going. The barrel exploded knocking the two back and separating them slightly. “I’m ok,” Jay announced.

Kai got up and turned to Jay. “I’m going after that lantern!” He stated before running off towards the ship.

“Wait! Kai, we’re supposed to stay together!” Jay tried to remind, getting back up. But Kai was already running ahead. Jay was stopped when one of the pirates jumped down in front of him. He was a green serpentine.

“N-not so fast ninja!” he said, “M-m-my name’s Clancee and I’m not letting you get to the C-Captain.”

“I don’t have time for this,” Jay complained. He started spinning, activating his spinjitzu and sucked Clancee into the tornado. Clancee was thrown back and Jay continued running after Kai. As he was trying to catch up, Kai began climbing up to the rooftops. Jay quickly followed, but right as he got to the roof he had seen Kai was gone and all that was left was a puff of orange smoke. “Kai! No!” Jay yelled.

As Cole managed to infiltrate the ship, he made himself vanish and snuck up behind the one firing all the cannons, a small mechanical monkey. He reappeared and threw the monkey off the ship. “Alright, let’s find that lantern,” Cole said, wiping his hands together. He walked around the ship trying to look for it and eventually made his way to the navigation room. He looked around when he suddenly heard a voice.

“I ain’t afraid to shoot you where you stand,” the voice spoke.

Cole quickly turned around and saw a man with a big mustache and a gun pointed right at him. Before Cole could react, the gun fired, shooting a bullet right for Cole’s chest. Cole braced himself for the impact, but the bullet just fazed right through him. The bullet bounced around the whole room until it finally smashed through a glass container that contained the realm crystal. The realm crystal shattered and the shards fell to the ground.

“You shot the realm crystal!” Cole shouted.

“Well you made me miss!” the man with the gun yelled back.

Cole looked back at the shattered glass case and noticed the lantern sitting behind it. He quickly grabbed it and began running away. The man continued to try and shoot at Cole, but to no prevail. Cole ran onto the main deck where Jay also was. “I got it! Let’s get out of here!” he explained. Jay nodded and followed close behind. They both jumped off the side of the ship. “I got the lantern,” Cole said into his communication device, “Meet back on the rooftops.”  Cole and Jay both stopped to catch their breaths. They turned to see the pirate ship suddenly fleeing.

“Where are they going?” Jay wondered.

“Beats me. But we got what we came for.” Cole replied. The others arrived at the rooftop, grouped back together. “Alright, now let’s light this lantern up,” Cole said, “Kai, a little light.” There was a short pause as the ninja all looked around for Kai. “Kai?” Cole asked.

“Where’s Kai?” Nya asked, worry in her voice.

“Uhh, I’m sure he’s fine,” Jay tried to reason not only with the others, but also to himself.  _ Of course he’s not fine you idiot! You saw Nadakhan take him!  _

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, knocking all the ninja over. As the shaking stopped, they all sat up.

“What was that?” Zane asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid to find out,” Lloyd responded, “Alright guys, we need to get out of here before the police find us. Not sure where we’ll go, but I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

“Oh, I think I have a place in mind,” Jay said, “Follow me.” The ninja all ran away across the rooftops towards Jay’s secret hideout.  _ This is bad, things are really getting bad!  _ Jay thought to himself,  _ I just hope we’ll be able to fix all of this soon! _


	7. (Ep. 5 Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First part of episode 5 where Jay's destiny is finally revealed to Cole...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, we're starting to get into the more interesting stuff now. This is where more changes are probably gonna start to show up, cause this is when the actual season starts to pick up. I've been excited to write this chapter for a while now. The pacing in this chapter is a bit weird, the actual episode had a lot of cuts in it so it was a little difficult to write with those.

The ninja arrived at Jay’s secret house. He unlocked the doors and they all walked into the main entrance, along with Zane’s falcon. “Ahem. Welcome to my humble abode,” Jay said as they entered the house. They all looked around in amazement. Nya was even acting surprised, not wanting to let the others know she already knew about this place. Jay led the others into the next room.

“So, how’d you come across this place again?” Lloyd asked.

“I, saved up! Yeah, I saved up my money and now, ta-da! My new secret hideout,” Jay lied. “Well, of course it can be our secret hideout now.”

Lloyd sighed. “First we lost Master Wu, then my mom, and now Kai’s gone! I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to see a pattern here.”

“Whenever one of us is alone, we disappear. It has to be Nadakhan who is causing everyone to disappear,” Zane explained.

“Well, we better stick together from now on,” Nya said, “Ok, we need to look at that lantern. Jay, hit the lights.”

“Oh, yeah, the lights,” Jay responded. He looked all over the room for the light switch until he found a panel with buttons on them. “Ha, ha, I found them,” he said as he ran over to the panel.  He pushed one of the buttons and it turned on the air conditioner. He tried another one but it turned on the stereo. Jay then just started pushing all the buttons with the others staring at him in confusion. Finally, the windows were closed off by metal doors, turning the room dark. “Ha ha!” Jay laughed as he finally found the right button.

Lloyd, Zane and Nya walked over to a table to examine the map in the lantern. “So, this is the map to the only thing that can stop Nadakhan?” Nya questioned.

“Not stop, only weaken him,” Lloyd reminded, “Remember, a drop of tiger widow venom can kill a normal person. But it can weaken a djinn long enough for us to trap him.” They continued discussing the plan while Cole and Jay stood to the side. Cole turned to Jay.

“You saved up for this place? Yeah right. Whatever money comes your way you waste on junk food and video games,” Cole whispered, “What’s really going on here? And don’t think you can lie to me, I know you too well.”

Jay stared at Cole, slight panic in his eyes. He gave a frustrated sigh. “Ok, fine, I made a wish with Nadakhan,” he admitted.

“You saw Nadakhan and didn't tell us!?” Cole yelled quietly.

“Shhh!” Jay scolded, “He came to me when I was alone and I made a wish to be rich so I could impress Nya, but instead I got a letter saying my father died and I inherited his estate, but it turns out that I’m adopted and my birth dad is Cliff Gordon,” he explained.

“Who?” Cole asked.

“The guy who played Fritz Donnegan!” 

Cole and Jay walked away from the table so the others couldn’t overhear their conversation. “How could you be so stupid to make a wish?” Cole asked, “And what reason would you have to impress Nya?”

The two sat down on a couch. Jay looked back at Nya, and then back to Cole. He sighed. “Do you remember when we were looking for the First Spinjitzu Master’s tomb and we came across the cave that showed us our future?” he asked.

“Yeah, I remember. You said you had an eyepatch, didn't you?” Cole responded.

“Well, there was something else in my vision.” Jay said.

“Yes, and what was it?” Cole urged.

Jay gave another sigh. “I saw myself with Nya. We were together again.”

“Wh-what!?” Cole asked. All he could do was stare at Jay.  _ Jay and Nya? So, so they are… he…  _ Cole was attempting to process the sudden information.  _ Jay…  _

“Look, I don’t know how it happens, but in the future, Nya and I end up together. 

Even though she has made it clear that I don’t stand a chance.” Jay explained, “So, when Nadakhan offered to help me impress Nya, I took it. But who am I kidding? Nothing I do will impress Nya. And after two wasted wishes, I was barely able to escape without making my third.”

Cole was still in shock, unable to think of a response. 

“Look, Cole, I’m sorry. I know I should have told you sooner, but I was scared that you’d hate me again. I don’t want this to ruin our friendship again. We… we’ll always be friends, right?” Jay asked.

_ Friends… best friends…  _ Cole thought. “Y-yeah… we’ll always be friends,” Cole responded, trying not to break down.

“Cole,” Jay said.

“Yeah?” 

“Can you promise not to tell the others about this?” Jay requested.

“What? They have to know,” Cole argued.

“Cole, I’m asking you as my best friend. If they find out, then Nya will know,” Jay pleaded.

“But, if anyone else gets hurt,”

“Of course, if I’m lying, then let me be struck down by the First Spinjitzu-” Jay was cut off by a large tremor that caused the whole house to shake. He started screaming and without thinking, started hugging Cole for comfort. 

Cole tried his best not to start blushing.  _ Dangit, Cole, he’s not even interested in you! So why even bother acting like this?  _ He yelled at himself. The shaking stopped, and Jay, realizing what he was doing, awkwardly jumped back.

“Ahh, s-sorry Cole, it was just another quake, no big deal, ha, ha,” Jay said awkwardly. 

The T.V. had turned on automatically as a result of the earthquake. The ninja all turned their attention to it as the news was playing. “It seems that a piece of Ninjago has randomly gone missing. This has happened multiple times now, and we are unsure of the cause or reason behind it.” the reported announced.

“I have a feeling Nadakhan is behind this,” Lloyd said, “We need to get that venom right away.”

Zane turned to his falcon. “Go out there and see if you can find what Nadakhan is up to,” he directed. The falcon squawked in understanding and flew off. The rest of the ninja left the estate and headed for the shorelines.

They eventually arrived at a docking area in search of a boat so they could head to the island. Cole was walking in the back, looking down at the ground.

“Cole, you’ve been kind of quiet on the way here. Is everything ok?” Nya asked.

“Yes, I’m fine!” Cole snapped back. Nya was taken aback by Cole’s sudden attitude, but decided to just ignore it. Zane looked back at Cole with a worried expression, but then turned back ahead.

“I don’t understand why we don’t just take our dragons,” Jay said.

“We won’t have enough energy to fly our dragons all the way to the island,” Zane explained, “Besides, with a ghost with us, it will be much safer to take a boat.”

They walked up to a captain sitting alone in a boat. “Uh, excuse me? We’d like to charter ship,” Lloyd requested.

“No can do. There’s a storm coming, so unless you’ve got your own ship, you can’t go out.” the captain explained.

Jay looked over to a large, fancy looking boat as the others started walking away. “Hey, that wouldn’t happen to be Cliff Gordon’s boat, would it?” he asked.

“Why, yes it is!” the captain exclaimed.

“Huh, that’s convenient,” Jay said, “Hey guys, we can take this one,” he called to the others. 

They all climbed into the boat and set sail. Jay and Nya were setting up one of the sails. “Hey, do you guys know where Cole went? He could really help us with this,” Jay said.

“I will go find him,” Zane offered. He went underdeck to where he believed Cole would be. Just as he had thought, Cole was sitting at a table by himself with his face lying on it. “Cole? You seem to be troubled,” Zane said.

Cole quickly lifted his face off the table. A strange green substance was pooled where his face was, along with some of it on Cole’s face near his eyes. “Wh-what is it?” Cole asked, quickly wiping his eyes.

“Cole, were you crying?” Zane asked gently.

“I-no, I’m fine, why would I need to cry?” Cole objected. 

Zane walked up and sat next to him. “Cole, if you need to cry, it is ok,” he assured.

Cole started at the nindroid, the green substance started forming in his eyes again. He put his hands over his eyes as he began to cry. Zane put a comforting hand on Cole’s back.

“Did Jay tell you?” he asked.

“Oh, so you already knew,” Cole responded, slight annoyance in his voice, “Why did he have to wait to tell me? Of course he’s meant to be with Nya, OF COURSE he still loves her. It was so obvious, but I just wanted to believe that maybe this would work out, that MAYBE he could love me.”

“I tried to get Jay to understand,” Zane explained, “Even if destiny says he needs to be with Nya, that doesn’t mean-”

“YOU CAN’T CHANGE DESTINY, ZANE!” Cole snapped at him, “And destiny said Jay and I are friends. Just friends. That’s all we’ll ever be.”

“Cole…” 

Cole wiped away some of his tears. “I should be happy for him. He gets to be with Nya, the love of his life. I know that. I just can’t help but be mad.”

“Cole, you can’t help how you feel, don’t blame yourself for this.”

Cole looked at Zane. “Can you tell me one thing? If you knew that Jay and Nya were meant to be together, why did you want me to tell Jay about my crush?” There was no anger in his voice.

“I believed that if Jay knew you loved him, maybe that would change his mind about this whole Nya thing,” Zane responded, “Maybe he would be able to see that destiny isn’t always right. Especially seeing how bent out of shape Jay has been due to this vision, I thought this would help him.”

Cole wiped the rest of his tears away from his face. “Well, thanks, for trying at least,” Cole said. Suddenly, the door swung open, causing Cole to jump back slightly. 

“Cole? What are you doing down here?” Jay asked. He looked at the table that was covered in Cole’s green tears, “Uh, what happened there?”

Zane opened his mouth to explain, but Cole quickly covered it. “I, uh, I just got a little seasick,” Cole explained.

“I didn't know you got sea sick,” Jay responded.

“Yeah, me neither, maybe it’s a ghost thing,” Cole explained.

“Well, if you’re feeling better, can you come up and help us with the sails?” Jay asked. There was concern in his voice for his friend.

“Yeah, I’ll be up in a bit,” Cole promised. Jay left them, closing the door behind him.

“Uh, Cole? Why didn't you just explain to Jay what this green stuff is?” Zane questioned.

“Zane, I can’t let Jay know how upset I am about this. How do you think he’d react?” 

“With… concern for his friend?”

“If he knew I was upset, he would ask what was wrong so then I’d have to explain.”

“Yes, you would get to tell him how you feel.”

“Exactly.”

Zane blinked in confusion. “Didn’t I just explain why you  _ should  _ tell Jay how you feel?”

Cole gave an annoyed sigh. “Zane, Jay and Nya are  _ destined  _ to be together. Nothing I do will change that. I need to move on.”

“Cole, I don’t think you understand my point,” Zane said.

Cole stood up. “Jay has made it clear I don’t stand a chance with him,” he replied with a slight edge in his tone, “The best thing to do is just forget about the whole thing and let them be happy together.” Cole walked out of the room. Zane sighed and then got up and followed.

The sea was relatively calm, so the ninja decided to relax for a bit. Jay was sitting on an upper platform of the ship, continuing to read his book about wooing women. “Chapter 2,” he read out loud, “Don’t tell them the truth, tell them what they want to hear.”

“What are you reading?” Nya asked. 

Startled, Jay quickly closed the book. “This?” he asked, “Oh, it’s a book about…. Uh… understanding the power of your feminine side. It’s a real page turner.”

“Really?” Nya asked.

“Yep, it’s really fascinating,” Jay continued. Before he could lie more, Nya cut him off.

“Oh no!” she shouted.

“What? Did I say something wrong?” Jay said, upset and scared. Nya began climbing down the ladder to the main deck.

“There’s a storm heading our way!” Nya announced, pointing towards a swarm of dark clouds nearing the ship.

“That’s not just any storm, it’s an electrical storm!” Lloyd shouted out, “Get ready Jay, we’re gonna need you!”

“Need me? For what?” Jay asked, concerned.

The others instructed Jay to climb to the top of the sail pole in order to act as a lightning rod. He held out his hand to attract the lightning as it shocked him. “This wasn’t what I had in mind!” Jay argued.

“Jay, you have to be the lightning rod or else this storm will destroy the ship!” Lloyd said. He and Cole were holding the sail up with a rope while Nya steered and Zane poured any extra water overboard. Jay continued to get electrocuted by the lightning, but it then flowed down the pole and attracted itself to Zane’s leg.

“The lightning keeps coming because we have a nindroid aboard,” Cole pointed out.

“Zane, you’ll have to go below deck,” Lloyd directed. Zane nodded and walked away underdeck.

“No, Zane shouldn’t be alone!” Jay argued, “We all need to stay together!” Another jolt of electricity hit Jay.

“We can’t risk this boat getting destroyed,” Nya said, “We won’t be able to swim to the island fast enough and one of us isn’t waterproof!”

“But what if something happens to him!” Jay yelled back, the strong winds making it harder to hear.

“Zane will be fine! If he sees anything, I’m sure he’s let us know,” Lloyd assured.

The lightning began to calm down as Zane left, but a giant tornado of water erupted from the sea. “Be careful!” Jay called.

“What do you think I’m trying to do!?” Nya retorted. She attempted to steer the ship away from the vortex. The ship began heading for a large formation of rocks as they all tried to keep the ship together.

“Brace yourselves!” Lloyd yelled. The boat crashed into the rocks. Jay was flung off the pole and smacked into one of the rocks. He fell into the water as everything began to go black.


	8. (Ep. 5 Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay's secret gets revealed, and they have to go get the tiger widow venom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHHHH I'm just getting so hyped about writing this story, it's getting into some good stuff. Spring break is next week for me, so hopefully I'll be able to get more chapter out sooner

Jay slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. Looking around, he saw Lloyd, Nya and Cole, but no Zane. They were all together on a beach. Many rock formations were in the sea near the island. There was also large, broken pieces of wood and metal, seemingly from the boat. Jay sat up and looked at the others who were also starting to get up. 

“Where’s Zane?” Lloyd asked, worry in his voice.

“Maybe he got lost at sea?” Nya suggested, concerned for her friend.

Lloyd shook his head. “Nindroids don’t get lost.”

Cole looked out to the sea.  _ He must have encountered Nadakhan…  _ he realized. He looked back to Lloyd. “Zane was captured by Nadakhan.” he confirmed.

“What? How could you be so sure?” Lloyd questioned.

“Don’t ask me, ask Jay,” Cole gestured towards Jay who was crawling over to his book. Jay looked over at them, worried.

“Jay, what’s Cole talking about?” Nya asked.

“Uh…” Jay started to panic slightly.  _ Don’t tell them the truth, tell them what they want to hear,  _ the advise played back in his head. “Look! It’s Zane!” He said suddenly, jumping up to his feet and pointing to the sea. Lloyd and Nya rushed over to see what he was talking about while Cole sat back.

“What? Where?” Lloyd asked.

“There! He’s right there!” Jay continued pointing at nothing.

“The only thing I see is your hand, Jay,” Nya retorted.

“No, he’s there!” Jay insisted.

“Ok, I’ve had enough of this!” Cole interjected, walking angrily to the others, “Jay’s already encountered Nadakhan but didn't tell anyone. That mansions and the boat? He wished for them.”

“Cole, you said you wouldn’t tell anyone!” Jay replied, feeling slightly betrayed by his best friend.

“The reason Nadakhan keeps showing up is because Jay never made his third wish,” Cole continued, ignoring Jay’s comment, “And if Zane knew that, maybe he’d still be here.”

“Jay, why didn't you tell us!?” Nya asked, anger starting to form in her voice.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t…” Jay responded. He avoided their eye contact by looking to the ground. He held his arm as he began getting nervous.

“What do you mean you just couldn’t?” Nya insisted. Jay continued looking away, unable to answer.

Cole gave an annoyed sigh. “It’s because when he saw his future, you were with him…” he explained. 

Lloyd and Nya both gasped quietly. “Cole, I’m sorry,” Lloyd comforted his friend as he knew about Cole’s crush on Jay.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cole responded. He looked over at Jay who looked back at him. Cole quickly turned back to Nya, not wanting to see the sadness in Jay’s eyes. “So, there you go. You and Jay end up together, you belong together. You two get to be happy together,” Cole’s voice started breaking down slightly. “I just hope you realize how lucky you are.” Cole trailed off. 

“Cole…” Jay responded quietly.  _ Was he talking to me or Nya?  _ He wondered. He shook his head and looked back at Nya. “Nya, listen, you told me we were never gonna happen, so I thought the only way for us to be together was by wishing for it. I had to at least try,”

“Jay, you can’t just wish for someone’s love!” Nya said.

“Huh, that’s exactly what Zane told me,” Jay responded.

Nya shook her head. “Well, I guess we all know who’s gonna be the one to extract the tiger widow’s venom.” Nya started walking away towards a jungle with Lloyd and Cole following close behind.

“In my defense, I did just find out that I’m adopted,” Jay tried to argue, but the others ignored him. “Nothing? Really?” Jay picked up his book once again and hugged it close to his chest as he followed the others into the jungle.

The ninja eventually made their way to a rope bridge over a large crevasse. “The tiger widow should be close ahead. Watch your step,” Lloyd advised as they crossed the bridge. 

“Just how am I supposed to extract the venom?” Jay asked, still hugging his book.

“Well, maybe if Zane wasn’t captured, we’d have a nindroid here to tell you,” Nya retorted.

“Ok, that was a low blow,” Jay argued, “I just need to know if we know anything about the tiger widow, other than the fact that it is terrifying?” Jay’s voice got a little shaky with fear. They reached the other side of the bridge as they got closer to the cave.

“All we know is that this is the last of its species,” Cole explained, “so you’ll only have one chance to get the venom, but I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” he looked back, but Jay ran ahead. He looked over to see Jay laying down on a white hammock. “What are you doing now?” he asked.

“I’m resting my feet on this hammock,” Jay explained, “We’ve been walking for miles, and if I have to face this thing alone, I want to make sure I’m well rested.”

“Jay, I don’t think that’s a hammock,” Lloyd warned.

Jay looked up and saw that he was lying in a massive spider web. There was a skeleton stuck in it near the top that caused Jay to start screaming as he started flailing to get out of the web. “Get it off of me! Get it off of me!” he shouted. He eventually broke free of the web and fell on the ground.

“We have to keep moving,” Nya insisted. They continued on the path with Jay running to catch up.

“Haven’t I suffered enough?” Jay asked.

“No,” all three of them responded in unison. 

They arrived at the end of a small cliff. The cave was in a small trench next to the cliff. “There it is,” Lloyd pointed, “That’s the nest of the tiger widow.”

“What are you waiting for Jay, get down there,” Cole directed.

“Well I’m sorry if I’m not jumping down there immediately!” Jay argued, “Do you see what I’m seeing? Of course not! Cause all I’m seeing is my life flashing before my eyes!”

There was a short pause as the others waited for Jay to calm down. “You done?” Cole asked.

“What happened to sticking together?” Jay asked, “What if Nadakhan captures me? What if the tiger widow attacks me and I get hit with the venom? A NUMBER OF BAD THINGS COULD HAPPEN TO ME DOWN THERE!” Jay continued to argue.

The three of them just stared at Jay with faces that say “Shut up and get down there already”.

Jay gave a sad sigh. “I have no friends.” he said as he started walking to the cave.

“Use your canteen to collect the venom!” Cole shouted as Jay walked to the cave.

“Well thank you, mister obvious!” Jay responded, annoyed. He entered the cave which was full of giant spider webs. “Come on out, tiger widow, I’ve come here to nicely ask for your venom,” Jay said nervously. He gave a couple nervous laughs as he continued through the cave. He hugged his book very tight to his chest as he continued through the cave. “Are you a little tiger, or just a big scaredy cat, ha ha,” He turned around to see a huge spider with razor sharp fangs and spikes on its back. Jay started screaming. “It’s so big!” The tiger widow opened its mouth, revealing the extra fangs containing the venom. “How am I supposed to get the venom when it only shows its fangs to bite you!?” Jay yelled at the others.

“Then let it bite you!” Cole yelled back.

“If I get out of here, I’m gonna bite you!” Jay argued back. Jay continued running away from the tiger widow until he was cornered. The tiger widow opened its mouth and began secreting venom from its fangs. “This is not ok!” Jay yelled. The tiger widow went in to bite Jay, but he blocked it with his book. The book became stuck on its fangs. Jay started running away again. “I see the fangs,” he announced.

“Then hurry up and get the venom!” Lloyd ordered, “We’re busy dealing with sky pirates right now and could use your help!”

“Well sorry for the delay, I’ve never had to milk the fangs of a giant spider before!” Jay argued. He hid behind a rock and pulled out his canteen, waiting for the tiger widow to come back. As it got closer, Jay started shooting electricity at it to keep it away. Finally, Jay jumped up to the tiger widow and grabbed onto one of if its fangs. He pulled out his canteen and filled it with the venom. After that, Jay ran out of the cave screaming. “I got it! I got the venom!” he yelled. 

Cole, Nya and Lloyd grouped up again after having to fight some of the sky pirates. “We have to protect Jay!” Lloyd ordered, pointing. Cole and Nya turned around and saw Jay screaming and running away from the giant tiger widow.

“That’s a big spider,” Cole commented.

“Hurry!” Lloyd demanded. They all started running away from the tiger widow, down the trail they came from. They reached the bridge, but the tiger widow began to weigh the whole thing down. Lloyd grabbed onto a pole keeping the bridge up on the other side. “Everyone hold on!” he shouted as the bridge began to break. They all grabbed onto each other’s legs, with Jay about to fall. Cole quickly grabbed his hand to save him.

“Don’t worry Jay, I got you!” he said.

Jay continued screaming as the tiger widow started climbing back up. “Haven’t I suffered enough?” Jay asked again.

“Getting closer,” Nya replied.

“Oh you don’t say?” The tiger widow got up to Jay and he tried kicking it away with his feet. A puff of orange smoke appeared next to him, revealing Nadakhan.

“You seem to be in quite the tough position, and time seems to be running out,” Nadakhan said, “But, you still have one wish left. You could wish it all-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You think I’m dumb enough to fall for that?” Jay questioned, “I’d rather be eaten by a spider than listen to you.”

“Then have it your way,” Nadakhan summoned a dagger with another puff of smoke. He smacked it at Jay’s hand with the handle, causing Cole to let go and Jay to fall.

“Jay!” Cole yelled as he watched his friend fall.

Nadakhan grabbed Jay by the arm and took the canteen. “Now, say goodbye to the only thing that can stop me,” he said. He started dumping the canteen while Jay attempted to grab the canteen back.

“No no no no no!” Jay panicked.

“And say goodbye to your friends,” Nadakhan continued. Before he could do anything else, the tiger widow began heading for Nadakhan. Before it could attack, Nadakhan poofed away, still holding Jay.

The others climbed up to safety as the tiger widow fell into the crevasse below. They looked up at one of the pirate ships as it was beginning to fly away. Nadakhan had Jay tied up with duct tape over his mouth to prevent him from talking. “I’ll be back for the rest of you,” he taunted, “And since you have no way getting off this island, I’ll know exactly where to find you.” The ship began speeding off, leaving the others stuck on the island. 

“They… they took Jay…” Cole said, “It’s all my fault.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Cole, it’s not your fault,” Lloyd reassured, “We’ll have to fly after him.”

“No, we need to save our strength,” Nya argued.

“Nya, he took Jay! We have to get him back!” Cole argued back, “Besides, Nadakhan got rid of the venom.”

“No he didn’t,” Nya responded pulling out another canteen, “I made sure to switch the canteens. Nadakhan emptied the wrong one.”  
“You mean, we still have the venom?” Lloyd asked.

Nya nodded. “Better yet, they don’t know we have it.”

Cole smiled and looked up to the sky. “Don’t worry, Jay, we’ll get you back.” he promised.


End file.
